Unwritten Words
by ninajunkie
Summary: Sequel to 'Dear Diary'. Draco and Hermione are no longer together. And even without her diary, Hermione seems to have her thoughts wander to a certain blonde man. Now that she has found someone else, will Draco ever win her heart back?
1. All It Takes Is the First Push

**Disclaimer:** I will only say this once because I hate being really repetitive. Nothing you recognize belongs to me, but the amazing and wonderfully talented JK Rowling. New character are copywrited to me, and those who helped create them. No money is being made off of this fic whatsoever.

**A/N:** First of all I want to thank every single person who supported me through Dear Diary and commented on it. I know it wasn't the way you all wanted to see it ended, but if it turned out all happy, you wouldn't be reading this right now. And a big thanks to whoever nominated Dear Diary at the Dramione Awards -link is in my profile- and let me know who you are. Well, read on and let me know what you think of it so far. And don't expect a real quick update it on it, because I posted this a lot earlier than I wanted it.

**Chapter One  
All It Takes Is the First Push**

The tears were still falling fast from her saddened brown eyes, as Hermione slammed her diary shut. Relief filled her body when she finally got all of her emotions out to the one thing she could talk to without receiving any sort of feedback. Even though she was grateful to have Ginny around when it came to having emotional bursts, it felt nice to release her emotions without hearing the words, 'It will all be okay.'

She ran her hand across the front cover of the diary and took one last good look at it. The front had been decorated with gold and green stripes; the gold representing the Gryffindor within Hermione and the green standing for the Slytherin side of Draco. There were fake rhinestones that had been permanently attached with magic, and they still had the same sparkle that they had when Draco added them for her. On the bottom edge of the book, the words 'this belongs to the princess of the wizarding world' were inscribed in black ink in Draco's tidy handwriting.

All the diary would do for her, would be to bring back memories; memories that she didn't want to be reminded of. There were enough things in the world that would make Hermione think of Draco, and she sure as hell didn't need another one. She reached into the inside pocket of her jean jacket and pulled out her elegant wand. With a single tap to the cluttered cover, it disappeared with a soft pop that rang indefinitely in her ears.

She felt the tears starting to prick her eyes again with the memories of the past. What was she going to do if her mind would always be lingering on him? How was she was supposed to live normally if she cried hysterically every fifteen minutes?

Before she could ask herself anymore questions, a knock sounded at the door.

"Um, it's occupied… Can't you read the blasted sign?" she snapped, infuriated with who ever was interrupting her thoughts.

"Ma'am, we'll be landing in about twenty minutes and the seat-belt sign will be on in a minute. You might want to get to your seat," one of the flight attendants said.

"Oh, sorry for yelling at you like that."

"It's quite all right, dear."

"I'll be out in a minute, I promise," Hermione replied while reaching for the tissue paper to clean her eyes off.

She climbed off of the counter and turned to look at herself in the mirror that hung over it. Her mascara was dripping and she looked absolutely horrid. Her eyes were red and the skin around them was puffy. There was no way she could leave the loo looking like that and risk the chance of Draco thinking anything about it. Turning on the faucet, she splashed her face with some cool water to calm herself down and to get rid of the red in her cheeks. She then cleaned off the blotchy spots of mascara and eyeliner.

After she looked dignified enough, she unlocked the door and made her way silently to her spot next to Ginny, and all without taking a peek at Draco. One of the flight attendants was making her way down the aisle, looking to see if everyone had been fastened in tightly.

Thirty minutes later, Hermione and Ginny, along with all the other passengers, were trying to fight their way out of the plane. She caught a glimpse of Draco out of the corner of her eye, and her heart suddenly stopped beating. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't stop that from happening.

Finally, they saw the light seeping in through from the inside of the airport.

"Ginny! Hermione!" shouted a voice from off to their left as they stepped out onto solid ground. They saw Ron speed walking towards them, dragging an infuriated and disgruntled Lavender behind him. Ron suddenly let go of his wife's hand and took his baby sister into a tight hug.

"Air is much needed for survival, Ron," Ginny gasped in between struggled breaths. Her brother finally let her go and she went to give Lavender a hug. "Oh Merlin… Lavender!" she said surprised when they departed from their embrace.

Lavender was very confused and replied, "What?"

"How come you didn't tell us?" Ginny asked with a huge smile on her face.

"Oh, that…" Lavender responded a bit shocked.

"What's going on?" Hermione said, now being the one left in the dark.

"She's pregnant!" Ginny exclaimed and gave her sister-in-law another grand hug. "How far along are you?"

"Almost a month. We just found out this morning," Ron answered while he wrapped his arm on his wife's shoulder and gave the biggest smile so far.

"Wow, that's great! I'm happy for the both of you," Hermione announced with less enthusiasm she should have used. If there was any less, it would have been sarcastic.

Ron looked at her with a pathetic and sympathetic smile, "Hermione, how are you?"

She turned her head towards Ginny and gave her a threatening, almost terrifying look. "You told them didn't you…?" It was blatantly obvious by the way Ron looked as if he felt sorry for her and Lavender seemed as if she would pounce on her just to give comfort.

"Hermione, I had to," Ginny replied with a sorry face, "I didn't want everyone questioning you right now!"

"Who else did you tell, Ginny?"

"Only these two idiots and Harry."

"So naturally everyone knows, huh?"

After a couple of eye rolls from everyone, the four of them headed out of the airport with their shrunken luggage in their coat pockets and with Ivory in her owner's arms. There was no way in hell Hermione was going to let that precious cat go.

Surprisingly enough, Mr. Weasley had let Ron borrow his newer muggle car –which was not magically enhanced to fly- that the Ministry had given him to take apart because of his fascination with anything muggle. Instead, he let his kids borrow it whenever they wanted to go into a Muggle town, and drive just for the thrill.

They had been driving down a deserted road in order to avoid the long lines of traffic in the inner parts of London. Hermione found herself staring out the glass window, not really focused on anything, but subconsciously noticing the frost covered trees. Soon enough, Ron pulled into the parking lot of the apartment complex that the two girls lived in. Just because they were witches didn't mean they couldn't live in a community run by muggles.

"You both are coming in, right?" Hermione asked to Ron and Lavender.

The four settled into the small area that the dining table was set in while Hermione put a pot of boiling water on the stove to make tea, never showing a trace of the beautiful smile she once had. After she gave everyone their cups, she excused herself to take shower real quick. Just because no one was allowed to mention anything about her situation with Draco to her, didn't mean that others didn't talk about it behind her back.

"Do you think she'll be okay?" Ron asked, worried about his best friend for fourteen years.

"I'm sure she'll come around. They always do, trust me," Ginny replied. "When Harry broke up with me that year after I left Hogwarts, I thought I would never be happy again. Now look at me…" She had an enormous smile on. Her life was no where near perfect, but she had finally found another man that loved her, about to get married, and will eventually have his kid.

"You know what we should do, Ginny?" Lavender asked her, breaking through her reverie. "We should take her out to one of the spas that Witch Weekly featured last issue. It would be relaxing mainly for her, but also for both of us. We could all use it; Padma and Neville set the date for their engagement party next week, since they knew you two would be back."

"Lavender… For once I think you have an amazing idea!"

"For once? Ha! I'm a genius!" she responded in a sarcastic tone with a great grin.

**XXX**

When Hermione finished handing out the cups of tea to everyone, she walked towards the bathroom that connected to only her room. She really didn't want to take a shower; she just wanted to get away from all the sympathetic looks that would eventually make her break down. There was absolutely no comfort in her flat at that moment, and she instantly felt like escaping, leaving the house. Maybe go somewhere that would only bring back _bad_ memories of Draco.

Like the smart witch that she was, an idea suddenly popped into her head. Within less than a second, she was no longer standing in her bathroom.

In that same exact moment, she appeared well in one piece, standing in front of a small train station that was void of a train and people. It was still Christmas break, so naturally there would be no problem going in there… right?

With a sort of fake confidence, she started to stride to the front gate that had the two statues of winged boars on either side. She placed both hands on the iron bars, and pushed the gate open. She could feel the snow crunch under her shoes as she walked passed the castle, heading straight for the Black Lake. She wasn't surprised when she couldn't see any students out, because they were most likely eating dinner at that time.

She quickly walked to a large stone, one that she had seen many times, and sat upon it, staring out into the depths of the lake. Back in her Hogwarts days, she would always go out to that specific place alone when she needed time and space to think. It was the only place she knew that was available to her whenever her thoughts needed to be sorted out. So she did what she used to less than ten years in the past.

For ten minutes she sat there quietly with her arms wrapped around her legs which were brought up to her chest. Her chin sat in between her knees as her eyes blankly stared into the liquid that filled the expanse hole in the ground.

"Why can't everything just be easy?" she asked absolutely no one, not even herself.

But then a voice answered her. "Because then that would take away the adventures and thrills in life." Hermione knew that voice all too well and had no need to turn around to confirm her suspicions. "How are you Miss Granger?" asked her old Headmaster Albus Dumbledore.

"I wish I could say all is well," she replied lazily while turning to look into his still ever-sparkling eyes as he took a seat upon the rock next to her.

"So would I be wrong to say you're trip to the States ended in a not so delightful manner?"

"You always knew everything that went on. To tell you the truth I have never felt lower in my life." She still showed no pleasure or life in her voice.

"I'm not one to pry into anyone's personal life, but you were always one of my favorite pupils. And I know you don't want to share your story to any other individuals, so all I will do is offer you some advice."

"I'll be glad to take it professor," old habits die hard. "You were always known to be correct in every manner, if I do say so myself."

"I'm glad to hear it," he said as the sparkle in his eyes shone even more. He was never one to receive compliments very often. "At some points in life everything may seem to be in the worst possible condition and one may find themselves thinking that nothing could make it better. But the best part is that it will. I won't tell you what the best solution in this point of time may be because that would ruin the whole experience of life for you. What I will tell you is to keep your eyes open and don't shut your heart. You have so much fire within you that I would hate to see it go to waste."

"Thank you." Finally, there was a small trace of a smile. "That's the best piece of advice I have heard in quite a long time."

"It's no problem dear. You should probably be getting back to your friends," Dumbledore said while getting up from his uncomfortable position on the stone.

"Yeah they're probably worried right about now," she replied while following in suit.

"Oh, and tell them all that I shall see them all very soon."

"Huh?" she asked confused.

"I won't be able to make it to the engagement party, but I will be there on the day of Neville's wedding."

"Oh, that's right. Must have slipped my mind…"

"I'm sure it did. Now I'm going to let you in on a little secret. One was never able to apparate in or out of Hogwarts, but one could only leave if their destination was right in front of the Three Broomsticks," he said with a wink.

"Thank you again, professor!" And with a pop, she was gone.

**XXX**

After Hermione arrived back at her flat and the husband and wife of the group left, she went to visit her parents while Ginny went to go see Blaise. Mr. and Mrs. Granger didn't poke and prod too much into what had happened, but still understood that she was going through a bad time. On the other hand, they had gushed over the new black kitten their daughter had acquired; and so did Crookshanks who seemed to act like a 'fatherly' figure for the month old kitten. Hermione went back home with two cats in her arms along with a box of tea cookies her mother insisted on her having.

The next day, Ginny and Hermione received their invitation to the small get together that Padma and Neville had planned to celebrate and catch up with everyone. Ginny had jumped around excitedly because she hadn't seen Neville in a long time and also wanted to share the news with the others about Blaise. Everyone had been shocked when they started to date, but she figured it wouldn't be too big of a startle when they all found out she was getting married to him.

Hermione on the other hand, wasn't too sure if she wanted to attend. Dumbledore's words had definitely stuck to her and enlightened her, bringing her out of her stupor. He just didn't want to lie to everyone by saying that nothing was really new in life, when indeed something entirely major had happened. It's not that she was forced to lie to them, but she just didn't want to go into the whole story about it. It would be bad enough to just mention his name.

But one good thing about the upcoming Sunday was that Draco would not be going. It's not that he declined an invitation; he had just simply not been invited. The only reason Blaise was going was because he was Ginny's date and fiancée, so it was only natural to go as well.

Hermione was sitting in the living room reading a book all by herself. Madame Derwent said that she did not have to report back to work until the following Monday, in order to give her a well deserved break from helping out the Wizarding world and to get rid of the intense jet lag.

When Ginny arrived back to the flat at eight that night and saw that Hermione was still plastered to the same exact spot on the couch, she started complaining. She went off on her and said that the only way to rid her of emotional stress was to actually leave the house and do something! After Hermione just brushed her incessant blabbering, Ginny owled Lavender saying that they would absolutely **have** to go to the spa the following day.

And so it was set.

**XXX**

"Satisfy me with a decent answer to my question: why are we here?" Hermione asked after they apparated in front of the massive double doors in front of Spellbinding Oasis, _'Where the tense leave relaxed, or your galleons back!'_

"_Because_, Hermione…" Lavender replied before Ginny could get a chance to lose her cool again, "Padma's get together is this upcoming Sunday, and you _are_ going whether you like it or not. We all need to relax and be egotistical for once and worry about ourselves."

"Merlin forbid! Did Lavender Brown just use a word with five syllables?" Ginny asked in mock shock.

"Must you always pick on little old me?" she replied just playing along, in hopes of making Hermione break out in laughter or at least smile once again.

"Let's just get this over with, okay?" Hermione said rolling her eyes while walking straight to the front desk.

They proceeded to check in under their reserved time and were each handed a copy of the card key to open the door to their shared room. The girls were only planning on spending one day at the spa, but since they were in the most prestigious spas in wizarding Britain, they didn't have a dressing room where every girl was expected to undress in.

When they reached the room, there was an itinerary set on the small desk, outlining they whole day. All their activities where planned so that they wouldn't be apart for not even a single second throughout the entire time. The first thing on the list was the full body massage to be done in room 015 on the ground floor. They got undressed and wrapped themselves with the luxurious and extremely comfortable robes that had been provided.

Upon arriving in the designated room, they noticed that three cots had already been set out and waiting for them with three masseuses ready to begin. The massage had been absolutely wonderful for Hermione, so she was a little more than ticked off when Lavender's voice interrupted her from enjoying every second of it.

"So what are you girls planning on wearing to the party?"

"Why should it matter?" Hermione asked. "It's not as if we're trying to impress anyone!"

"But that's where you are mistaken my lovely lady! There are going to be plenty of people there and you can't just show up in the only pair of sweats that are clean and your favorite shirt with the fading words 'Long live the Queen.' Trust me; I still know you have that."

"Of course I still have it; I'm never going to get rid of it. But what I'm trying to say is that I'm not going to dress up in the fanciest dress I can get my hands on."

"I'm planning on wearing some nice dress robes," Ginny said before they would forget she was still alive and breathing.

"Let me guess…"the brunette started. " One of you two is going to suggest that the next thing we do is to go shopping for robes…"

"I wasn't, but great thinking Hermione!" Lavender burst out.

"How about tomorrow? We grab lunch at the Three Broomsticks and make our way to Gladrags Wizardwear."

Hermione was about to say something, but Lavender cut her off, "Sounds perfect. Tomorrow it is!"

'_Why did I have to open my big fat mouth?'_ Hermione asked herself. _'At least it's a start to getting over being depressed…'_


	2. Maybe It Can Get Better

**Chapter Two  
Maybe It Can Get Better**

Terrible, horrific, and depressed. She tried to take Dumbledore's words seriously and truly believe them, but Hermione just couldn't make the pang in her heart disappear. It was obvious that whatever the man said shouldn't be taken lightly because he was always right. But she just happened to find some sort of comfort in the wallowing of her own self-pity she was currently doing.

It had been two days since Ginny and Lavender had dragged Hermione to their day trip to the spa and then shopping for a dress. The poor girl had no choice but to go along or else she would never see the end of their whining or incessant pleading. Their trip to the spa hadn't been too bad and it made her relax more than she thought possible. But then when they left and headed to Diagon Alley for some shopping, that's when the real disaster started.

Lavender had quickly chosen a dress practically the instant they walked in. While they were shoving dresses left and right towards Hermione, Ginny picked out a nice short type of sundress. Hermione refused to buy anything that made her look like a bloated Pygmy Puff, and she really didn't see the point in finding what the others called "perfect." It was just a dress after all, and there would be no one there to impress anyway. She only agreed to go because Neville was still a close friend and it would be rude to not go to an event that he had delayed just so that she could go. It would only be right.

The clock in the living room chimed two o'clock and Hermione was asleep on the couch, not even aware that she had to be at Padma's house in an hour. If Ginny had been at the flat, Hermione would without a doubt be awake. But her red-headed friend was absent and most likely out having a quick shag with her fiancé before the party, or helping Lavender to make sure that Ron's tie was on straight. Hermione was still amazed that her best friend couldn't manage the simple task of putting on a tie, but yet his younger sister could.

2:12 and the sound of a huge commotion coming from the kitchen finally awoke Hermione, even though she ended up face down on the carpeted floor.

"Hermione!" She was still drowsy, which didn't help at all in the task to identify the voice. Lucky for her the face of Harry Potter emerged from the kitchen and showed up to her still body. "What in the bloody hell are you doing on the floor?"

Her answer was a bit muffled, "I was sleeping," but at least Harry heard her words. She got up, but still sitting on the floor, she stared at Harry.

"I can tell… your hair looks like it did back in school." Hermione obviously couldn't sense the humor in his comment, so his smile turned into an expression of nothingness. With a closer look, he noticed the way her eyes were red and her face looked paler than usual, but decided against saying anything. "Come on, the party starts in forty-some minutes, and you look nothing like my date should," he said with a slight trace of a smile. Harry stretched his arm out for her to take.

"What?" she asked confused, but still took his offer of help to get off the floor. "What about Luna? I thought you two were finally doing better." She walked towards her bathroom with Harry following her as she talked to him.

"Oh no, we're doing great!" He replied as Hermione turned on her shower, walked back out into her room, and entered her closet while Harry waited in the bedroom. It was practically a routine by now.

"Then why aren't you going with _her_?" she asked while stepping out of her closet only clad in a robe. Then she walked towards the bathroom with Harry right behind her yet again.

"Well, she gave me another one of those petty excuses," he replied as he sat down on the toilet, with the top down, and Hermione stepped into the shower to start getting ready.

Hermione found it as such a useless task to even begin to bother with the fact that Harry would follow her into the bathroom. It was as if the boy knew no boundaries and didn't mind knowing his best friend happened to be naked only three feet away. But of course, she paid no mind to his antics because he would constantly walk in on her while she would be taking a bath or shower, but would never see more skin than was allowed. 'Wait until Draco hears about this,' she thought to herself. She was about to correct her mistake, but Harry's voice once again rose up from the loud splashing of the water.

"Transylvania! Can you believe she said she's going to Transylvania to track down a vampire for another story for The Quibbler?" Harry said in a bit of an aggravated tone.

"Wow, she's still the same Luna," Hermione responded while lathering her hair with shampoo.

"That's the point. It used to be cute when we were fourteen, but now that I'm twenty-five, almost twenty-six, it's a bit on the immature side. But either way, you are my lovely date for the evening so hurry it up."

Hermione then turned off the running water, reached out for her robe (which Harry handed to her), and stepped out of the shower.

"Well, I'll leave you to get dressed and be back at two. We'll show up fashionably late," he provided with a wink, and in a quick instant, he was gone.

Hermione retreated to her room and took the light blue sundress she managed to finally pick out, and lay it on top of the bed. She was about to put it on, when Ginny apparated into the flat, screaming out her name. Hermione yelled back that she was in the room, and Ginny burst in looking disheveled and breathing rather quickly. She tried to say something, but Hermione ushered her to sit down.

"I forgot that you were still sleeping," she finally managed to get out in one long breath.

"Harry came and got me, no worries," Hermione replied with a slight smile. "And it looks like you need some fixing up to do."

"Oh, I can get that done in a jiffy, it's you I'm worried about," Ginny pointed to Hermione's sopping hair. "You need to get your hair dried and fixed first."

The year-younger girl, took out her wand and dried Hermione's hair with a quick spell, and helped her get the slight frizz out. Once she was dressed with shoes and make-up on, Ginny quickly straightened herself out before the doorbell rang. Blaise was at the door standing next to Harry, and both had contempt smiles on, waiting for their dates to step outside. Even though it wasn't a 'date' type of party, invited guests could obviously bring their 'other-half.' But Harry just wanted to keep a smile on Hermione's face, so he decided on taking her.

Hermione took a deep breath, stepped outside, and silently hoped it wouldn't be a disaster.

**XXX**

Since Hermione, Ginny, and Harry had all been over to the Patil twins' mother's house before, they quickly apparated over into the front lawn. It looked as normal as ever without any indication that there would be a huge celebration. Well, not entirely huge like a gala, but there was an event to be commemorated.

The four individuals were walking towards the front door, when suddenly it busted open and a girl shouted, "Hermione!" and bounded towards the said girl.

"Hey Parvati!" Hermione responded while embracing the hyperactive girl in the same tight hug she received.

"It's so good to see you, old roommate!" Parvati then looked towards everyone else and told them to follow her as she escorted them inside of the house. "I'm so glad that you all showed up, Padma and Neville will be so excited!" Once they reached the massive kitchen, she led them through an already open door that took them all outside.

It wasn't extravagantly decorated, but beautiful all-together anyway. There was obviously a charm set around the garden, because there was what seemed to be about fifty multi-colored fairies flying around; but also to keep the cold winter air out. There was an elongated table off to the left that played host to a variety of finger foods and tons of bottles of butterbeer, that were being kept cool with an effortless cooling charm. There were small round tables spread out around the massive area of grass that were also accompanied by a few chairs to each table.

Hermione instantly recognised a few fellow classmates from her year. She spotted Dean Thomas and Seamus Finnegan off at one table talking to with two pretty ladies she didn't know, or couldn't identify automatically. Padma and Neville were standing a few feet from the door talking to Mr. and Mrs. Patil, possibly what she assumed to be small talk about wedding plans.

Padma then noticed her twin walking out of the house with some guests and excused herself to leave Neville with her parents. She greeted everyone individually with a warm hug and rushed to get them fully settled in by taking them to get some drinks. Once Hermione had taken a quick sip for her bottle, Padma pulled her off to the side, or tried to.

"Hey, so how was Florida? Heard that the book Neville and I sent helped!" she said enthusiastically.

"Yeah, it actually came in handy," Hermione replied, trying to keep her cool. "You have no idea how grateful I am that you two thought about sending me that book, and that plant."

"Well, that's good. So…" Padma began a bit wary, "where is Malfoy tonight?"

Oh great. This was the exact reason why Hermione wanted to avoid ever taking a single step out of her house. What was she supposed to say? She didn't want to have to lie to one of her greatest friends; neither did she want to lie to a stranger. But she didn't want to have to reveal the entire complicated story and then have everyone think she was whore or a… scarlet woman. She could always beat around the bush a little though, right?

"Things didn't really work out between us," she responded with an attempt to make a smile appear on her dreary face. "I guess opposites don't really attract, huh?"

"Yeah. Well, I wish you the best of luck," Padma said before attempting to walk away.

Hermione just stood there shocked for a minute, before her body responded to her thoughts, and made a reach for Padma's arm before she disappeared. "What do mean?" she asked. Padma just looked at her with a sympathetic face.

"Okay, I'm not trying to insult you, but I can read you like an open book. It's written all over your face how upset you are. And the way you started ringing your fingers when I asked you about your trip. I know you're trying to be strong, but I can tell you're probably hurting from it. Maybe you're hoping to get him back, and I'm cheering for you. Ginny owled me one day and mentioned how she had never seen a brighter smile on face before."

"Oh," was all she could say while in her surprised stupor. "You could tell all of that?"

"I promise I won't tell anyone," Padma said with a wink before Hermione let her go back to her fiancé.

More guests quickly arrived, and Hermione noticed that Ron and Lavender showed up during her small conversation with the bride-to-be. The already married couple made their way over to the refreshment table where all of their friends were still standing around. It wasn't a bad start to the evening as Hermione recognised most of the guests, seeing as they were friends from Hogwarts. There were indeed a few people she had never seen before, and still hadn't talked to either of them.

After about two hours, Hermione seemed to have lost track of that foolish man she called her date: Harry. She couldn't leave without him, Ginny or Ron because it was the second Sunday of the month. Ever since they had all left Hogwarts, they would go out to dinner on every single second Sunday of every month. It was tradition, and since Hermione had missed the last few, there were no excuses for anyone to miss this important date. Not as if she wanted to give an excuse because her brunette self looked forward to that special occasion. It had been one of the few things she could really count on in her life to stay constant.

She had been trying to avoid any more conversation with her fellow graduated friends to keep the subject off of Florida, America, work, and Draco. Ron and Lavender were engaged into a deep conversation with Ginny, Blaise, Dean and his date, who she had later realised was one of the healers in a different section of St. Mungo's. Hermione had already talked to Dean early within the evening, but he didn't push too much into the subject of how things went, and she really appreciated it.

Since Harry was no where to be found and neither was her other ex-dormmate, she found it best to just sit off to the sidelines for a while, watching how happy the other guests could be. Or maybe they were just faking it like she was. She sat modestly at one of the iron cast circular tables in the center, surrounded by many other tables which were thankfully empty because everyone else was 'mingling' about.

"Why the long face?" The deep voice of a man startled her out of her dazed state, and noticed him pulling out the other chair from underneath the table and setting himself in it.

"Is that normally how you greet strangers?" she asked in a harsh tone that she instantly felt sorry for. "I apologise; I'm not usually so snappy." He replied with a simple smile. "Hermione Granger," she said while sticking her hand out to appropriately introduce herself. He gratefully took her hand in his and brought it too his pink lips, and gently kissed them, leaving her cheeks an unwanted shade of red.

"Todd Rainey at your service," he said with a smile that instantly made her gush.

What was happening to her? She needed to get a grip and realise that Draco and she had just recently split up, and in no circumstance should she be fraternizing with any other person of the opposite sex. "Well, it's nice to meet you, Todd." Ah, who was she kidding? Here was her chance to finally quit moping around and get over her past. "So how do you know Padma and Neville?" she asked more confidently.

"I actually work with them down at the greenhouses for Arian's Apothecaries," he responded without faltering his smile. Oh, what that smile was doing to her. And not to mention his deep brown eyes with the ever so-subtle hint of… orange. Absolutely hypnotising.

"Oh, so you're around them a lot? You're lucky, I've known them for quite some time, and they're great people." She could actually feel her eyes start to sparkle, and desperately wished for them to stop. '_Please?_' she begged silently.

"They are. They're amazing, especially when they're knowledge is crashed together." He took a pause, shifted his smile a little, and took the chance to get to know her better. "If you don't mind me asking… what's your blood line? Not that I care, I'm just curious."

"Muggle-born, actually. But it doesn't bother me one bit," Hermione answered with a secure voice. "And you?"

"Same, actually. So do you follow any muggle sports at all? I still keep up with basketball, my dad's a fanatic."

"No, I'm still trying with all my will power to keep up with Quidditch," she said with a slight chuckle, and he did also. "I'm not too much of an athletic type of person."

"Then what kind of person would you say you are?" He was definitely flirting and Hermione could smell that intoxicating scent of interest. But did she seriously think it would go anywhere beyond that single moment?

"I guess you could figure it out if I told you that my nickname since first year at Hogwarts was either know-it-all or bookworm Granger. Not the ideal type of personality, but I never cared and neither did my friends."

"So you're smart, confident, and pretty." She felt her face heat up once more at his last word. "I like that." Hermione didn't know what to say, so she just smiled back. Suddenly she felt the odd feeling of someone's presence, and quickly turned around to find herself face-to-face with Harry.

"Hey, Hermione. Ready to leave?" the raven-haired boy asked.

"Yeah, just give me a minute and I'll meet up with you by the drinks," she assured him with her back still facing Todd.

"Okay, and Blaise and Lavender are joining us tonight, so try not to keep two snappy pregnant women waiting," Harry stated before leaving to gather the group up. She smiled inwardly as she finally came to the conclusion that she had the best friends that any girl could ever wish for. So what was the need for a man in her life at that point? She then turned back to Todd, who apparently had a sort of shocked look on.

"You're friends with Harry Potter?" he asked with awe.

"Um… yeah. It's not that big of a deal, so try not to treat it as such. He'll hate you for it. But either way, I need to get going; we're all getting together for this monthly thing we always do. It was a pleasure meeting you, Todd," she said while getting up, and he followed her.

"I was actually wondering if I could owl you sometime… if that's okay with you?" He was in a shy state for the first time since Hermione had set her brown eyes on him.

"Yeah, sure." He pushed a napkin towards her, and she quickly scribbled the name of the department she worked in at St. Mungo's and explained to him that she was constantly there. They bid each other farewell, and within minutes, Hermione and her band of friends apparated away to finally fill their grumbling stomachs with real food and their minds with answers to lingering questions.

**XXX**

"Harry mentioned he saw you actually smiling tonight. What's up with that?" Ginny asked before taking a sip of her warm butterbeer, from which steam was still rising.

"Damn you Potter," she emotionlessly argued with him. "When will you learn to keep your nose to yourself?" He lifted his hands in the air with shrugged shoulders in defense.

"I'm just reporting news like any good reporter should!"

"And who do you daresay appointed you the almighty leader here?" Hermione retaliated.

"Hey, you listen here missy…" he joked around with her. "I'm just glad to see you happy and not huffing to yourself. If I just so happen to witness a change in your behavior, I have the right to inform everyone else about it."

"Thank you, Harry," Lavender added. "Now spill, darling, who was that bloke?"

"Fine," she gave up the fight. "His name is Todd Rainey, and he works with our newly engaged friends. It was just little chit-chat, and I highly doubt I'll ever see him again, okay?"

"Whatever, Hermione," Ron added. "Just admit you finally want to get with Harry. I'm sure he doesn't mind!" he said while sending a wink towards his best mate's way.

"Ronald, shut up!" Ginny broke into the conversation again.

"Actually, I don't think it _would_ be a wise idea for our friend here to get caught up once again into the world of men so soon," Blaise interjected. Hermione knew he was just speaking on behalf of his best friend who was probably rejoicing somewhere that he no loner had a tag-along Gryffindor.

"And why not?" she disputed. "If I remember correctly, I was the one who was left hanging by a single thread with everyone pushing me to get over him. And now that maybe I finally have, you go and take that away from me?" She pushed her soup away from her, no longer in the mood to satisfy her stomach, only her heart.

"That's not what I'm saying, Hermione. I care about you just as much as everyone here and you very well know that. I never want to see you suffer, so just imagine how I feel about Draco right now. You weren't the only one with a broken heart, you know."

"Don't you think I know that!" she raised her voice again, but not loud enough to draw attention from the other restaurant customers. "Do you seriously think that I meant for those past actions to truly happen? Because I realise that it was my fault, but he can't put one-hundred percent of the blame on me. You and Ginny were the ones who left me on the beach, anyway."

"And don't you think _I_ know that?" Blaise replied, imitating her response. "I have guilt, too. And if you believe me or not, I have this feeling around me every time Draco or you are in eyesight, and I can't help but feeling lower than mud. I do blame myself for what happened because I left a vulnerable woman in the hands of a rat!" Hermione suddenly felt like _she _was lower than mud. How ironic…

"I'm sorry Blaise," she replied in a hushed and sorrowful voice. "I didn't mean to blame you, and it's not your fault at all. But just know that I can't give Draco another chance if he won't let me. And in order for me to go though with it, he needs to be able to give me another chance also, and I don't think he will grant me that."

…

Who else is entirely excited about GoF on DVD tomorrow? I wish I could be at Best Buy at 10:00am, but work calls me in.

Mucho thanks to my great friend and beta-reader for this story, **Aly**. Before I go on with my babbling, I just wanted to that everyone who has waited for this update. And I wish I could address everyone personally who has reviewed, but I currently don't have the time, but please realise that I love you all and your support. Now on to my excuses and such…

Now I want to say how I'm terribly sorry that it has taken so long to update. A while ago I had acquired a job that I had wanted for so long, only Tuesday and Thursday nights making decent money. But recent problems with the dance studio forced them to combine two of the classes, leaving me without a class to teach. So I am now working Monday through Friday from seven in the morning until five, then having to go to class at six after that. I'm not complaining because I'm making more money right now than I ever thought a freshman in college could. But recently I've also managed to add some community service hours onto my Saturday mornings and Sunday afternoons reading to a group of children at a local library. And on top of that, I'm studying extra hours to make sure I pass the entrance exams to get into Honor's Literature and History classes for the summer, and another exam to exempt me from taking the ever dreaded Chemistry, which I have managed to push away until now. What can I say, I'm an overachiever… Plus it's really hard to have one of your two best friends 180 miles away and the other almost 600. Those two girls are my life, and I'm lonely without them. So phone convos are a must.

But enough excuses. I think this story will actually end up being a bit longer than I had expected, so that's even better for the readers. Well, I hope you all enjoyed this chapter, because it is a major turning point in the story. And before anybody starts asking about Ginny drinking butterbeer, it's not actually alcoholic. I've read many stories where they seem to point out that it is, but in fact all it really is, is butterscotch flavored soda without carbonation. Supposedly. So don't think she's harming her unborn baby in any way…

Thanks to those who actually read all that. Now please review! And leave any comments, questions, and concerns. :D

Oh, and copyright of Todd is shared with **XORyn14kleOX** who came up with his first name and love of basketball. Don't worry though, the other stuff you asked me to add in for him will come in the next chapter. It's just more convenient to leave everyone hanging about him…


	3. Downhill Once Again

So, I do realise that it has been a month since I have last updated this story. And for that I apologise. I just didn't want to post up something that hadn't been betaed, and Aly and I had taken our spring breaks at different times, so our schedules clashed immensely. I have also gotten a new job down at the Rainforest Café, and I've been studying my ass off to remember the table numbers. Yep. But I know that you have all been yelling at me to update this, so here you go. R&R, and also check out **They'll Never Know**, my newest one-shot. Apparently everyone has liked it, and I have received more reviews for that than I have on the first chapter of this fic. So, please check it out if you haven't yet.

**Chapter Three  
Downhill Once Again**

The buzz of an intercom turning on echoed throughout the hospital corridor. If it wasn't already an odd enough situation returning to work that Monday alongside with Malfoy, St. Mungo's seemed to be filled with less of a hustle and bustle than usual. Hermione wanted something to occupy her time with, but since she had just returned from an international trip, she felt out of place in the large infirmary. Plus, she had no idea if she would be continuing her same position or not.

Hermione tuned out whatever the front desk receptionist had been saying that blasted throughout the entire place, only focusing on her current excursion. She still had about thirty minutes to go until eight that morning, which was the time that Madame Derwent had told her to meet up in her office. And she silently wished she wouldn't have to endure the torture of being in the room with Malfoy, also.

But instead of going down to her boss's office, she was heading up to the Fourth Floor, the floor intended for spell damage. But she was on her way to a special ward, the Janus Thickey Ward where Gilderoy Lockhart had been staying at since Hermione's second year at Hogwarts. She had been given notice that their final potion had been distributed to the most urgent patients first, and her former professor had been at the top of the list, at Hermione's request. He had the most damaged memory that she had seen by far, but at least he finally grasped the concept of who he was…

When she reached the top of the stairwell and stood in front of the door that led out into the hallway, it suddenly swung open towards her with a great force, almost knocking her off her feet. But she grabbed a hold of the stairwell railing before she had a chance to slip.

"Miss Granger?" said the petite girl sprawled on the floor, trying to gather her things. The girl had been wearing light purple Healer robes, signifying that she held the lowest position that a Healer could, just an apprentice. She stood up and looked Hermione in the eye, but Hermione didn't recognise her.

"I'm sorry, but do I know you?" she asked politely, helping the poor uncoordinated girl to keep her things from falling from her arms. She wasn't too short, just a smidge shorter than Hermione, but the blonde seemed to have no sense of direction or any confidence, and it made her seem… smaller than she actually was.

"Oh no," she said quickly catching herself, with her voice filled with worry. "I'm Leanne Shepard. I'm new, first day actually, and I was just told that you would be here today. I know all about you!"

"That's nice," Hermione replied a little worried. How much could this new girl know about her? But she wouldn't let anything get in the way of making her feel welcome, so she offered her hand to greet her. "Well, it's nice to meet you. But I must be going now. I have to go check on a patient."

"Mr. Lockhart, right? Madame Derwent told me about the potion you and Mr. Malfoy—" Hermione cringed inwardly at the mention of his name, "—made, and that he was the first to try it." Leanne seemed to brighten up a bit at the chance to show how much she knew. "But he's not on this sector anymore."

Hermione tightened up some at the newly released information, because no one had mentioned the liberation of her most important patient. Gilderoy Lockhart couldn't have been released or relocated without her permission, so she wondered quickly who might have let something like that happen. If it had been her boss, she would have most likely mentioned something.

"Well, do you happen to know what happened to him?"

Leanne nodded her head enthusiastically before answering. "They moved him to ward 31; the Boyd Ward."

"Thanks," Hermione replied softly before reaching out for the door to try pushing it open once again. But she turned back around to face the new worker. "Do you happen to know who signed the release forms for Mr. Lockhart?"

"No," she replied shaking her head. "All I know is that he was moved the same day Mr. and Mrs. Longbottom were."

That came as a huge shock to Hermione. "They moved the Longbottoms?" she asked with her eyes almost popping out of her head. Leanne nodded her head this time. "Do you happen to know which ward they are in?" she asked with her voice beginning to falter. Whatever number this girl would spit out, would mean so much. How much better or worse they had gotten, which healer would be taking care of them, and how much attention they would get.

"Ward 29," she said with a slight smile in Hermione's direction, but the brunette was in complete shock.

"They moved them to a lower number? Even lower than Lockhart?"

"Yeah, even lower than Lockhart."

"Sorry for all the questions—" Hermione began, but Leanne waved her comment away with her hand, "—but do you also happen to know if they have open visitation?"

"Actually," the blonde said quickly before digging through the files in her hand, "I have all the specifications of them somewhere here. I was supposed to deliver them to Madame Derwent so she could fix the database, but I can go ahead and give it to you. As long as you hand it to her personally."

"Today's your first day?" Hermione asked and received a positive reply. "Well, rule number one: don't hand out information to anyone other than who you're working under."

"Sorry," she responded with fright, speaking quickly. "I didn't know. I'm not even on my shift yet. Madame Derwent just sent me up here to get some files from Mr. Castor and said that if I ran into you to not… uh, never mind."

"What are you not supposed to do?" the ex-Gryffindor asked, inching closer to her new co-worker. "You can tell me, she won't fire you if you release information, especially to me."

"Well, I just wasn't supposed to tell you that I'm going to be working under you, starting today," Leanne responded skeptically.

"So you're going to be part of my team then? Well, congratulations and welcome aboard!"

"Yeah, thank you. But I need to be getting back to Madame Derwent now. It was nice to finally meet you."

"You, too," Hermione said swinging the door open. "But we'll be seeing a lot more of each other, so don't worry about that." And with a finale wave, they separated.

She continued walking down the corridor, while acknowledging the other Healers that she knew, until she reached another swinging door that would lead her into the second sector of three that were on the fourth floor. Each sector had thirty wards—they were rooms that accompanied four or two guests at once, each with the same type of needs—and the sector she had been in was the one where her former professor had been boarded before. Ward 49 had been his home alongside with the Longbottoms and neither of them had been moved for many years.

But now that all three of them had been moved to lower numbered rooms, she was ecstatic. It meant that they were all doing so much better and progress was picking up. The Longbottoms had obviously been doing better than Gilderoy had, because they were in Ward 29, two rooms lower than him. She would have to visit them sometime, and let Neville know as soon as she would be allowed to.

She knew it would be the best thing she could offer him, even better than the grandest wedding present she could give him, so she could only imagine the smile on his face when she would tell him.

**XXX**

Gilderoy Lockhart. He was absolutely one of a kind, Hermione realised. Even with his memory starting to come back, he was still as clueless as ever, thinking that only his charming smile and autographs were needed to get through life. But she thought that as soon as all of his memories returned, he would realise all the mistakes he had made, and maybe even change his outlook on things.

And the Longbottoms. She took a quick visit to them, and she was still smiling at how well they were doing. They had recognised Hermione when she sat next to them, from all the times she had been in their room before. Their memories were still intact from before—and had always been—but they had just been garbled up, and all their motor skills had been lost. But with combined potions and spell work, they were on their way to full recovery.

But now she was walking down the stairwell on the way towards Madame Derwent's office seeing as how eight o'clock was quickly approaching. Hermione had barely ever been late for anything, especially work and when it concerned her boss. But she was so enthusiastic about being back, that she was early.

It was seven-fifty-three, and she was already knocking on the door that would lead inside of her office. She heard the voice belonging to the old woman inside, telling her to go ahead and open the door.

There she was, sitting behind her desk with Leanne sitting in another seat in front of her. The second she took sight of Hermione, the tiny aging woman sprang up from her swiveling chair and embraced her in a tight hug, almost suffocating her.

"Hermione, dear! It so great to finally set my sore eyes on you!" she made her spin around, and took in her appearance. "My, you sure have taken in the Florida sun quite well. Look at your face, it's so tan!"

"Thank you, Ma'am. And it's great to finally talk to you," Hermione replied, taking a quick look towards Leanne. "But we can chat about my trip later; I should probably get my butt to work." She sat down in the empty and soft seat right next to her newfound friend and coworker.

"Nonsense dear. You just got back to the island just a few days ago. You take things slow, alright?" Hermione just rolled her eyes in response. "But yes, we do need to talk about your jobs around here…" The smile on the little old lady's face never gave way, and Hermione was sure that something was up.

"I'm still a part of the same sector, right?"

"Of course, of course! But we have a new addition to the staff; Leanne Shepard here is starting training today."

"Oh yes, we ran into each other earlier," she said with a slight smile tugging on the corner of her mouth.

"Good, so no need to introduce you two once again. But I have some good news for you Hermione. You remember that position you were running for before you left, right?" she nodded, of course she hadn't forgotten about the job that she had lost in order to spend time in America with the devil. "Well, it's finally yours now!"

Hermione was rendered speechless. But she was about to start mumbling some word of thanks, until Madame Derwent continued.

"That's why Leanne is here."

"Please," the said girl interjected, "call me Ana."

"Well, that's why Ana is here. You're going to be the head of Sector Seven from now on, and you're going to be Ana's mentor. Train her in the basics of the job and take her around the hospital with you."

"I have no idea what to say," the brunette finally spat out. "This is amazing!"

"I'm glad you think so, because you're starting now. First I want you to give her a tour of the entire place, give her a map of all the sectors and the numbered wards, show her where she can take breaks at, and of course where the best restaurants are to eat lunch."

"Thank you so much, Ma'am. I'm so happy; I don't even know what to say!"

"Just to know that you accept the position and are willing to do it, is enough. And if I've told you once, I've told you a million times. Don't call me Ma'am. Just call me Kim. I may be your boss, but quit making me feel old," she said jokingly.

"Of course, _Kim_. But I just have one question. What about Malfoy?" It was hard for her to even think about him, but to begin talking about her ex again was even harder. But she had to know if he was still working at St. Mungo's or not, and if he was being relocated or not.

"Well, he is now head of Sector Eight. Jason had been relocated to France, so I offered Draco the job. It won't be a problem to be working so close to him, will it?" Hermione's boss asked with a familiar glint sparkling in her eyes, that it was almost blinding.

"Oh… no…" she replied hesitantly. It was obvious that somehow her boss had found out about the events that had happened while out of the country. Maybe not every detail, but she definitely knew that something had happened to cause a rift between the two of them.

But she didn't care. Why should she? It was all in the past and everyone had been telling her to get over it. And she finally started to feel like it would be okay in the end.

**XXX**

Surprisingly, Hermione's day had gone smoothly. She had successfully shown Ana around St. Mungo's without running into the one person she had not felt like seeing. And she was happy about that.

But what made her even more excited was that she and Ana had really hit it off. They were going to be around each other about 90 percent of the work day, so it was practically essential that they at least got along. But it seemed that they were actually friends. They would laugh together at the stupidest things and they both seemed to have the same type of humor. Not anything dry and sarcastic. When lunch came around, they went out together and found that they both shared a love for Thai food, something she could never get Harry and Ron to like.

Madame Derwent had also given her permission to inform Neville of the information about his parents, and it was something she was truly grateful for. For one, Neville was a really close friend, so she felt like it would be good for him to have someone to hug when he found out. And two, she wanted to do it in person. She had sent an owl to him during one of her quick breaks to see when he and Padma could meet up with her.

Fortunately, she received a quick reply saying that she could stop by their flat for tea after dinner that same night.

So when she arrived to her lonely home that evening, she stripped off her lime green Healer robes, and took a hot bath to relax her muscles.

When she finally broke the news to her friends, Neville had done exactly as she had expected: he pounced on her, giving the same tight embrace that she always received from him while his eyes watered. He asked when he would be able to visit them, and Hermione told the both of them to visit her in her section of the infirmary at eleven in the morning, and she would personally take them to their ward.

She had been so happy for her friend that he would finally be able to have his parents back to normal, that all of her problems seemed to disappear.

**XXX**

"So, tell me about this guy that you recently met," Ana asked Hermione while they were sitting in the break room, eating their lunch. They had decided to just settle with a simple salad and stay at the hospital instead of wasting useful galleons at a restaurant.

"Like I said before, I met him at my friends' engagement party. His name is Todd Rainey and he just so happens to be muggle born, too."

"Well, what does he look like?" Hermione and Leanne had already become close friends and they had started sharing some stories about each other in order to get acquainted more, and Hermione had told her about the man she had recently gotten to know.

"He's got the most gorgeous brown eyes, and if you look at them in the sun, you can see orange streaks in them. They're practically hypnotizing," she gushed.

There was a scoff heard in the corner of the room after Hermione finished her sentence, and both the girls turned around to look straight at Draco Malfoy's back. The brunette just rolled her eyes and looked back towards Ana.

"Don't even bother with him. He's just a jealous git," she relayed to her younger friend.

"So what _did_ happen between you two?" Leanne asked. Hermione still hadn't given her the specifics about her little mishap while in the sunshine state. But she promised her that one day she would find out.

"It's a long story," Hermione answered, shoving a forkful of lettuce and a tomato slice in her mouth.

Without a previous warning, the door to the massive room for a break area suddenly burst open and a rush of red hair was seen. Blue eyes connected with Hermione's concerned brown ones, and the girl took a seat swiftly in a chair besides Ana, facing Hermione.

"Ginny? What are you doing here?" Hermione asked, not even bothering with introductions at that moment. Something had obviously bothered her recently engaged girlfriend, and she seriously hoped that it wasn't another insane craving. The night before, she had bustled into her old flat, Hermione almost asleep, and bugged the brunette until they went out for a basket of French fries with pickle relish at midnight. It was truly starting to drive her insane.

"Impor… tant… news…!" she managed to get out between deep and ragged breaths. She had obviously run up all those flights of stairs. And they were steep, too.

"Honey, just take a deep and calming breath, and then tell me what's bothering you," Hermione said, noticing Draco tense up in the corner of her eye.

"Hermione, just don't freak," she said when her breathing was almost back to normal.

"What is it!"

"He's married."


	4. Chain of Bad News

Yes, I do realise that it has been almost a month, and my apologies will never cover up for it. But I do hope that the last chapter didn't make you all want to rip out your hair. And I really do think that this chapter covers a bit of a few questions that you may have had, and if not, please feel free to ask them because I will be glad to try and give you an answer.

A few things have happened within the past month to no longer be in contact with Aly, meaning that I no longer have a beta for this story and that this chapter was only edited by me. So if anyone would love to help me out with good grammar and spelling skills, and able to help me check out some facts relating to the HP world, I would love it. Let me know.

**Chapter Four  
Chain of Bad News **

It was as if a permanent buzz had taken up residence in her ears, because after Ginny's last two words, Hermione felt everything fall apart. Again. She was confused on so many levels, and had no idea what to believe. Her friend's statement had been so ambiguous and she didn't know which meaning to pick from. It was like standing in front of a prize machine in a carnival, holding the stick that controlled the crane and completely missing the only gift she wanted out of it.

"He's married?" Hermione asked with wide eyes, followed by Ginny's rushed reply of her head nodding. "Please don't tell me that you and Blaise have eloped, without me being there." Even to Hermione, her last statement didn't make any sense because her redheaded friend's voice was void of any excitement, but filled with… dread. She obviously picked the wrong meaning of 'he's married.'

"Oh, gosh no Hermione. I would never do that without my maid of honor."

"Okay, well then who's married?" Who could have this fiery redhead been talking about? Surely Draco couldn't have gotten married, especially since the both of them had only been apart for less than a month.

"Todd," Ginny answered skeptically, afraid of her best friend's reaction. Her head banged down onto the table and her next words were a bit muffled, but Hermione heard them perfectly. "I'm sorry, 'Mione."

"What? How do you know he's married? He obviously didn't relay that information to you," Hermione asked skeptically with her tone a bit harsher. First of all no one would walk up to someone else they didn't know at all and state the fact that they were married.

"I know, but here's the thing," Ginny started. "I was supposed to meet with Blaise for lunch today down at the Three Broomsticks, and I sat there for awhile but he never showed up. So, I decided to leave. On my way out, I caught a glimpse of him sitting at the bar with some lady all over him."

"How do you know it just wasn't some girl trying to get a drink from him? Or maybe even better than a wife, his girlfriend?"

"She had a wedding ring on, Hermione. I'm really sorry," Ginny said, leaning over to give her friend a hug.

"This isn't happening, Ginny!" she exclaimed, her own voice muffled that time because her face was buried into the redhead's shirt. "I finally get over Mr. Asshole over here," she said, thinking that Draco was still in the room, "and then it's all shot to hell because the new guy is married."

"Hermione," Ana had finally said after being silent for awhile, "there are plenty of other great and amazing guys out there. Todd is just a typical horny bastard who thinks that getting shagged by some girl who's not his wife will turn him on even more."

Ginny looked at the girl across the table from her, and gave a wide smile. With Hermione's face still buried into her shirt, Ginny reached across and offered her hand out.

"By the way, I'm Ginny!" she said enthusiastically and Ana shook her hand.

"Yes, I've been hearing a lot about you, nonstop actually. I'm Leanne, but you can call me Ana."

"Hey!" Hermione shouted, lifting her head up. "This isn't the time. Don't you see that I'm in a crisis here?"

"Honey, since when have you ever been this worried and upset? You've been an emotional wreck lately, especially crying over Mr. Blondie." Ginny felt bad for bringing the subject up, but it needed to be spoken about, because Hermione had never been the emotional type. She would always hold her head up high and move on with her life.

"Ginny!" she seethed through her teeth quietly. "Don't mention his name, he's right behind me!"

"No, he's not," the two other girls answered at the same time.

She turned her head around, and just like Ginny and Ana had pointed out, he was no where to be found within the break room, but the door was still open from Ginny bursting through it.

"Anyway… I'm been completely miserable because I'm twenty-six years old, I'm still not married, and I want children!" she whined, acting like a child herself. All she wanted was someone there for her like Ginny and Lavender had. Why was it her that always found it difficult to keep someone around, even if she wasn't the drama filled type of girl?

"How about we just declare lunch time over," Ana said, getting up out of her seat and throwing her salad in the trash. "Let's just try to get through the rest of our work day, and we'll settle this later."

"But how am I supposed to get through the day, knowing that two relationships have been total hell within the matter of only three months!" But she agreed and threw away her own Styrofoam bowl that still held half of an uneaten salad, away in the trash.

"Honey, I've been in and out of plenty relationships. Just try to put it in the back of your mind for the sake of both our jobs." Leanne's eyes still didn't match the seriousness of her voice, because she could almost literally hear Hermione's heart breaking. But she knew that it wouldn't help her situation any if losing her job would be added to the top of the pile of shitty situations in her life.

"Speaking of jobs, I need to get back to work. Harry will kill me if he finds out my break went on longer than necessary. He already gave me all that time off to spend it with you my dear, in Florida." She reached over once again and gave her a tight squeeze, trying to somehow transfer a bit of happiness into her. "I'll go over your place after work, okay? And we'll all work this out, and you can vent all your frustration on me." She turned to Ana and said, "you're more than welcome to join us."

Hermione didn't want Ginny to leave—she loved using her shoulder to cry on even though she rarely needed to use it before. She still wasn't too comfortable acting like a broken-down baby in front of Ana, so she mustered up all the courage she could so they could head back to Sector Seven. Hermione figured that bossing a few people around might even help her let out a bit of frustration anyway.

With her mouth sealed shut, she walked through the double doors that led to her section of the hospital, only to find a sight she absolutely couldn't handle at that moment. Standing there in front of her secretary's desk were two men that she had dared never speak to again, looking as if they were fighting with each other. But there was no way that she would let anything happen at that moment. Either they had to leave, or she did, and it was her office after all.

Her back was straightened out and the evil glared in her eyes more than ever, and she marched straight up to them, Ana in tow.

"How _dare_ you even show your face here!" she shouted, her anger currently directed towards Todd. "Let alone even think about stepping foot into this hospital unless if it were for the reason of getting run over by the Knight Bus, from which I had pushed you into its path!"

He backed up a bit, his arms thrown in the air for defense, letting the bouquet of flowers he had been holding, to drop to the floor, smashing all its petals. "Now, now love. I don't know what's going on here, but can we settle this somewhere else?" His 'oh-so-hypnotising eyes were no longer glowing, but dull from the fright that had overtaken his system. He was literally scared for his life.

"Let's get some things straight here," Hermione said, pulling her wand from her robe pocket and pointing it towards him, only mere centimeters from his throat. "One—don't ever call me _love_ again if you still want to be able to experience pleasure in the lower region of your body. Two—we cannot and will not settle this little dilemma you have put yourself into somewhere else, because if you haven't noticed, I'm at work, it's a Friday afternoon, and I have enough hatred running through my body to kill you if we were in private. Three—do you seriously think that you could have fooled me for long, hiding the fact that you're married? This is the Wizarding world we live in honey, it's not as big of a community as you think it is and word spreads faster than snake venom in your system." After letting all of her words spill faster than she thought she could have ever done, a deep breath escaped her body, and her next words were whispered, but still filled with anger. "Which I wish would actually run through your body right now."

"Wow," was the only thing heard from Todd at that moment. No one knew if he was about to say something, or even if he wanted to let his opinion out, because Hermione spoke up once again. But this time turned towards Draco, the other man she thought lowly of at that moment.

"And _you_. What reason could you possibly have to walk into my sector of this floor, to show your unwanted face around here?"

Everyone knew that Draco had a small amount of will power to hold in his anger just like Hermione had. So when she blew up on him there was no way in hell he would take it standing there, his mouth gaping like a fat fish trying to catch a bubble in its tank.

"Excuse me Missy, but I have just as much of a right to wander around this hospital as you do. So don't you dare start letting your explosive ways get directed towards me because your precious _boyfriend_ for a _week_ has been lying to you!" Yep, his anger was just as terrifying as Hermione's and just as blunt.

"Who in the hell said he was my boyfriend?"

"You! The way you talk about him in the break room, it's absolutely sickening. I had to leave earlier because I was about to puke all over my lunch. Which I couldn't even gather enough strength to begin eating."

"Oh my God! You're in-fucking-furiating, you know that?"

"Well, I must be if my habits are starting to make the precious and innocent Granger blurt out profanities."

"You know more than anybody that I'm nowhere _near_ innocent." Hermione immediately regretted letting those words slip out. But her tongue was faster than her brain.

"Yeah, baby, I do know that," Draco tried to say fierce and huskily at the same time. "I knew it from the moment your hands first touched me. Oh, and I especially know it from the way you used to scream my name out every night in the hotel room." His smirk was making its reappearance, and Hermione knew she had to hit him hard to make it disappear.

"Why don't you just let the whole world know about us? Better yet, tell them the whole entire story how you left me all alone at the beach, intoxicated. Just let them all know that you never really loved me like you said you did. Why don't you just admit it to me, that it was all one big fat lie?"

"Let's make a deal… I'll admit to all of it, when you look into my eyes and tell me you really didn't mean to sleep with another man in my own bed, and that you never wanted it to happen."

"Why, you evil slime ball. If it weren't for the fact that you could easily be mended up in two seconds due to another fact that we're still in a warehouse for sick people, I would tear your limbs apart, piece by piece."

"Try it, love, just give it a go." Draco stood there, cocky as ever with his arms crossed over his chest, waiting for his ex to make a move for it. When he saw the look of determination disappear slowly from her features, he smirked yet again. "I knew it. You wouldn't dare touch me, because everyone here knows you still love me."

"You wish," she seethed through clenched teeth, her anger boiling to an even higher temperature.

"Oh yeah, that's right. You don't love me, because you _fucked_ someone else."

"Give it a rest, Malfoy." This time it wasn't Hermione to speak up, but the other man that she had threatened only five minutes ago.

"Fuck off, Rainey. You'd keep your nose in your own business, if you knew what was good for you. And I'm pretty sure you would like to keep your head." Draco had turned to face the dark haired man standing next to him, threatening him, daring to see if you would speak.

"It is my business. It's been all of business since Saturday night, when you fucked my wife, you bastard."

"You _what_?" Hermione screeched even louder towards Draco, not believing the chain of bad news she kept on hearing that day.

"Asshole," Draco whispered through his teeth.

"You are a complete hypocrite! Ignoring me after what happened only two weeks ago wasn't enough for you, but you still had to go out and have sex with someone else? Let alone, someone's wife? How low could you possibly go?"

"Come on, Hermione. Don't even start giving me some self-righteous speech now. What's done is done, okay?"

"No it's not alright, _Malfoy_," she said, spitting his name out like it was just a bad taste in her mouth and nothing more. "Yes, it's true that I still love you, okay? Are you happy that I admit it? I was foolish to think that it was ever possible for us to try and move on even after what has happened. But now, it hurts more than all the times you ever called me Mudblood."

"Yeah, well now you know how I feel after I walked in on you and what's-his-face." He stared at her with so much anger that it all fell away so quickly that all was left of his emotions was sorrow. Before he could continue breaking himself down through all his available layers, he turned on his heel and pushed through the swinging doors to walk away from Hermione.

But she had no time to waste. She had no anger to waste, and she wanted to let out her last drops of madness to be leashed out on Todd.

"Please, don't tell me that the only reason you started seeing me was to get back at Draco for what he did to you." All of her anger was gone, so everyone could sense the tears just threatening to release themselves from her eyes at that moment.

"I wish I could, but I don't want to lie to you anymore." With that said, he left as well, never to see the people in that room ever again.

And that was the moment that Leanne finally found out everything she wanted to know about Hermione and Draco, plus more. So did all of the employees of Sector Seven and Eight of St. Mungo's. But the fight still wasn't over.

**XXX**

Five hours, forty-two minutes, and one massive headache. That's how much time had passed by since the outburst in the middle of Hermione's workplace caused by the two of the three men that had made her current life a burning inferno. And the only way to get rid of fire, is to wash it down with gallons of water.

Hermione had shed all of her clothing off, and jumped straight into the bathtub the second she had successfully apparated into her lonesome flat. The bubbles were completely covering her naked body while she doused herself in her larger-than-average tub. Fortunately for her, she was not completely alone. Both of her cats, Crookshanks and Ivory, were sitting on the floor side-by-side in front of her, practically staring her down.

"What do you think I should do?" she asked to the wiser and oldest of the two, but received nothing in reply. The orange fur-ball still kept staring straight into his owner's saddened brown eyes.

"Crookshanks, you're supposed to help me out here. It's completely unfair how you can help out Sirius Black, but not your owner. I feed you and give you milk when you beg for it. You even get to sleep on my bed! How unjust is this?"

_Meow._ At least it was some form of a reply. Did she actually expect her cat of all creatures to speak in perfect English? Recent situations were probably driving her a bit up the wall and supplying her a tiny ounce of insanity.

"I've gone completely mental. It's one thing to talk to you, but to expect an answer… What about you Ivory, do you have anything to say about the mentality of your owner."

_Meow_. And then she licked herself.

"Yes, you are completely insane." Hermione turned towards the door of her bathroom to see a head poking in with a mess of jet black hair.

"Harry. Nice of you to pop in on me, like always," she replied back, waving her hand, motioning for him to step inside. He went on in and sat on the toilet seat, just like he had a week ago on the evening of Neville and Padma's get together. And just like every other time he walked in on her. But just like always she never did mind, because in all actuality, he was just a big brother to her.

Taking one quick look at her best friend, Hermione realised that he looked as if he had too been going through one hell of a time. Even though if hair was always a jumbled mess, if was a tad more unorganised than usual. His light orange pin-striped shirt was half tucked in and the other half was hanging out, with the top three buttons messily undone showing off his white beater underneath.

"It seems as if our Mr. Potter has some problems of his own. Care to talk about them, seeing as I know for a fact someone has passed on the information about what happened at work today."

"Yeah, sorry about that," he said, drawing out his reply, running his fingers through his hair as if it would help it any. "Ginny told me all about the massive fight. How she always manages to find her information still surprises me."

"I hope you don't mind, but the timing isn't too perfect to talk about it, just yet. But I'm still here for you if you need someone to talk to." And it was true. Hermione was always there for Harry, and vice versa. He wouldn't go over to her place only in the case of an emergency when he needed advice, but he always felt safe there. It seemed as though they connected on a more deeper level since they left Hogwarts, and seeing as they were both in the same boat, the could relate to each other.

"To put it all in simple terms, love sucks." Blunt, very blunt Potter.

"Amen to that," Hermione responded, even though she had never been too religious. "Let me guess, its Luna once again?"

Harry nodded, biting his lower lip. "I just… I couldn't take it anymore, Hermione. I know I'm not completely mature, but she's just too much to handle. She's always off in la-la-land, and it was driving me up the wall."

"What did you do Harry?"

"I broke it off with her. For good this time. I told her that it was cute when we were in school, but now that we're in our mid-twenties, I need someone who can actually take life in reality. She doesn't realise that there are bills to be paid and mouths to feed. How do you think she would ever take care of kids if we ever were to have any?" He took a deep breath and buried his face within his hands, not knowing if he was frustrated with the fact that his ex-girlfriend lived in a different world or if it was because he would never find someone to settle down with.

"Harry, I'm truly sorry." Hermione wished that she could just reach over and give him a pat on the back or rub his shoulders, but that would leave her completely exposed to him. "How did she take it?"

"That's one of the things that's bugging me… She never cried, never said anything. Just smiled, got up out of her seat, and walked out of my house. How could she have been so calm about it?"

"Maybe she finally realised that something was missing, just like you feel. But maybe it's something completely different in each of our perspectives." She unplugged the stopper in the tub, waiting for the water to go down the drain.

"Maybe."

Once all the soapy water was out of sight, Hermione wrapped a soft and plush towel around her bubble covered body, stepping out of the tub, ready for a night filled with crying and some reading. Maybe she would have Harry join her.

"Do you think something was missing between you and Malfoy?" Harry asked silently, not even disturbed by the fact that he just saw his best friend completely naked. For probably the thirteenth time just within the past twelve months…

She stood there in still in her towel, with three pairs of eyes looking fixedly at her, waiting for some answer. But the harder she thought about it, the easier she found it to answer his question.

"No, Harry. There was nothing missing."


	5. You're Such a Mess

Okay, okay, fine… You are all allowed to through tomatoes and potatoes and possibly even charm a few things to fly at top speed in my direction. I know it has been seven and a half months and that I have been terrible with keeping up with my stories, and to tell you the truth I have no excuse and I won't feed you any. But I just recently got engaged a few days before Christmas, and out of all seriousness, fan fiction has been the furthest thing from my mind.

So I made a New Year's resolution, even though I hate those things to death, to write more stories throughout this year because it gives me full satisfaction and an easy release of stress. I'm not going to make any promises, but look out for a few things coming up, so add me to your author alerts.

And… I have also come to the conclusion that maybe these stories with multiple chapters aren't really my thing. As an example, All I have posted for _Working For The Enemy_ is 15 chapters, and I haven't even started with number 16. Want to know why that is? Cause I'm on a massive mental mind block. I absolutely cannot conjure anything out of the depths of my mind, not even if Hermione found the spell for it. Seriously though, I know what I want to eventually happen, but I cannot get myself to write the transition on getting there. So please bear with my folks, and I promise to finish it!

It's breathing down your neck,  
you know you've got to let this go.  
You're such a wreck and now it starts to show.  
_Cartel - Matter of Time_

**Chapter Five  
You're Such a Mess**

For some odd reason, he thought that he probably shouldn't have agreed to stay with Hermione that night. Of course they were still best friends and they were both going through tough times, but in the pit of his stomach, he felt like something might go wrong that night. He wanted to be there completely for her, and he of course needed someone there for him. And how could he just bail? She had asked so nicely, so viciously needy, and he had agreed. It was the look in her eyes that she had secretly fed him that made him so quick to agree. And it was all over now. He couldn't turn back.

Harry Potter was sitting on one of Hermione Granger's sofas, waiting for her to get changed, without the television or wireless on, nothing at all. It was just him with his thoughts for awhile.

Maybe he felt the way he did because they were both emotionally unstable and both lonely, they might take that to their advantage and something would happen between the both of them. Something romantic or sexual or anything that was not befitting of their relationship. Their friendship. It seemed wrong, of course, but sometimes when people were desperate, things tend to happen. And who was there to stop them?

'_I am,'_ he thought to himself, answering his lingering question. _'Nothing is going to happen between me and Hermione because neither of us will let that happen.'_

'_Yeah, but look at her,'_ his irrational side retorted, _'she's gorgeous, and you know that. It's no wonder why Draco couldn't keep his hands off her.'_ He could just imagine his conscious vividly winking back at him.

'_I did not just think that… this is Hermione! My best friend. She's practically my own sister.'_

'_But she's still a girl, Harry. One who isn't related to you by blood… One who has decent curves and a smile to melt chocolate. And the best part, my friend, is that she's as much of an emotional wreck as you are. You both need human contact.'_

'_I've never seen her in that sort of way before, so why should I start now?'_ Harry just wouldn't let the other side of him win… He needed to keep his composure and impeccable sanity in tact and keep Hermione away from him.

But he sat there for a moment of two, absentmindedly twirling the loose ends of the fleece cover lying on the back on the couch, in between his fingers. He even admitted it once, you know. Harry Potter is a massive fidget.

'_Ginny would kill me if she knew I was thinking this… Oh Merlin so would Ron and Lavender, and Malfoy… what would he say?'_

'_Who cares, he left her, remember? It's about time she forgot about that insolent good-for-nothing prat.'_

"Shut up!" he ended up saying out loud, not even realizing that he had just defended Draco… but he then reasoned it was for Hermione's sake.

"Arguing with yourself yet again, Harry?"

He turned around to see his current enigma walking out of her bedroom, drying her hair the muggle way, rubbing it in between her deep crimson towel. He knew that she would be wearing her favorite pajama pants, the red fluffy cotton ones with a bunch of golden snitches patterned everywhere around them. Unfortunately, they did not fly. She bought them a few years before for the Quidditch World Cup so she could be comfortable in her own living room watching the game on her magic-enhanced television. Harry had a green pair, Ron had a blue pair, and Ginny of course had a pink one. Back then they did everything together, including staying in on nights when they didn't want to actually dress up and leave. Instead they apparated to one of the other's house, fill themselves up with only the best Wizarding junk food, watch old muggle movies (and made fun of them, of course), and drank butterbeer until they all fell asleep on the living room floor.

"I always thought you were one of those egotistical men to have an ego and an id on your shoulder," she supplied, never tiring Harry with her boundless information.

"Um… I'm just having some random thoughts running through my head, nothing to be worried about." Yeah, that's why his palms were beginning to gather up moisture and he began to painc…

'_Just keep on lying to your best friend.'_

His deep inner parts just wouldn't leave him alone. He had even contemplated telling Hermione that it was probably one of the reasons it took him so long to leave Luna behind, because he kept on fighting with himself. And he could just imagine the pout that would crawl onto Hermione's face, preparing to scold him that those were the consequences of never following through with the 'counseling' the Ministry wanted to provide him with.

"I promise to kick the devil and the angel off soon."

"As long as you promise," she smiled sweetly, sitting down on the arm rest part of the couch Harry was sitting on. Little drops of water dripped onto her lush carpet after sliding down her sleek hair. The former hero kept his eyes on her, never tearing his vision away from the cute face she had, concentrating on getting her hair dry. He just couldn't keep some thoughts away, no matter how hard he tried.

The red towel hung over the arm of the couch, going unnoticed as both bodies stood up to walk towards the calling kitchen. "I'm going to make some tea, might calm down our senses for at least a while, huh? Want some?"

"Sure."

They headed towards the kitchen, and Harry, just like an automatic robot, started filling the pot with water that streamed from his wand while Hermione reached into the cupboard right next to the refrigerator for the tea leaves. The colorful crayon-drawn picture that was held up by a plain magnet caught her eye.

It had been given to her by a little girl that Hermione had attended to in the hospital. There was a family of four standing outside of their house, smiling in the sunrise.

She couldn't help herself, but a sad smile appeared on her face while she started to feel remorse and regret. Even pity lingered for a second in her stomach. But she shook it all out of her head as she realized that it was just the end of it all.

"Is the water almost ready?" she asked after finishing her part of the tea-making process.

"Yeah," was his simple monotone reply.

Harry just wasn't in the responsive mood after his tainted thoughts. For some reason they just wouldn't stay out of his mind, especially when he went to reach for two mugs in Hermione's cupboard and her favorite red one almost slipped out of his still sweating hand.

"Harry, please be careful. I've had that one since I was five years old." Hermione reached across him to grab her own mug with confusion written all over her face. She knew that something else had been bothering her best friend at the moment other than lingering thoughts of his ex-girlfriend. "What has gotten into you Harry? Is everything okay?"

He shook his head, "Luna is still on my mind." Harry kept his eyes downcast, trying to hold his best friend back from analyzing his emotions through his eyes. She had a tendency of doing that a lot the past couple of years.

It was just as she expected, and Hermione knew she would eventually find out what was _truly_ bothering her best friend.

After tying her hair up into any style she could muster, the brunette poured the steaming hot water into the waiting cups on the counter, letting the tea leaves soak and turn the water into a nice shade of green. The streams of pigment swirled around in her mug, creating dramatic patterns until they melted away, and all she could do was find herself mesmerized by it.

Maybe tea wasn't the best idea at that moment because after staring into the seeping vivid color for another minute, not realizing that Harry was blatantly staring at her, tears began to make an appearance on her eyes, clouding up they beautiful brown color.

She instantly felt a warm hand rubbing her back.

"Green was his favorite color," she instantly said, not wanting to wait for Harry to ask what was wrong.

"Hermione, I know that this will all be very difficult, but you need to get over him. If you let these little things keep bothering you, how do you expect to live? Every time you look at the color, are you going to break down? What about Ivy? You can't just abandon her because Malfoy gave her to you. For heaven's sake, you're acting like a teenage love sick girl."

"Then how do you explain how you've been acting about Luna?" she asked, seeing similarities between them both.

"You're right, Hermione, but I'm trying to move on with my life. That's not to say, though, that I don't think about her still. I think that you just need to keep yourself busy in other things so your emotions can shift slightly."

"Who knew? Harry Potter… the wise one!" she snorted after chuckling at the immense seriousness in his voice and stern look on his face. The smart witch instantly straightened her back, wiped away any and all lose tears from her face and walked with a fast pace into her living room, leaving her forgotten cup of tea behind.

Taking a handful of Floo powder from the vase her mother had bought as a house warming gift years ago, she shouted a name quickly into the green flame of the fire before sticking her head into it.

"Ana!" she called out once she had a clear view of her friend's flat, hoping that she was one of those folks that actually went home straight after work wanting to take a long bath. It was something every Healer needed, whether others realized it or not.

Not even five seconds later, the called-for-girl appeared with her blonde hair up in prettiest ponytail Hermione had seen, confirming her suspicions that she had more than likely taken a bath than a shower. The confused look that Ana had on her face didn't seem to disappear as she walked closer.

"Hermione, what's wrong? Is everything okay?" she asked, kneeling down on her plush carpet without worrying about the deep impressions the carpet would _not_ cause. They're wizards and witches, remember? Meaning they can perform spells and charms to make things happen, or to _not_ happen.

"This is an emergency!" Hermione began, hoping her friend could sense the dripping sarcasm in her voice. "I'm moving up our girls' night, that is if you don't mind…"

Leanne's face obviously had brightened up as her lost-dog face disappeared. "Oh, it's not a problem at all. I'd love to actually spend time with other human beings. What time?"

"I was thinking in about an hour. It'll give Harry and me some time to get things up and going."

"Sounds perfect. Do you want me to get a hold of Ginny?"

"Actually, that would help a great deal. Would you mind asking Gin to floo her brother Ron and Lavender as well? I'm trying to get as many distractions for my troubled mind as possible."

"Sure thing, I'll see you soon."

The brunette's hair was covered in soot as her head emerged from the flame and she reentered her living room, also taking note of Harry's new position.

Was he actually cleaning the dishes in her apartment? He had never done that before, always mumbling something about doing enough of them for Luna. While he finished up cleaning the spoons they had just used in their tea, Hermione summoned a pad of paper and her favorite quill from the desk.

Tying her waving hair up into a messy bun with a hair-tie that had just been lying around on the counter, she said, "okay, Harry," sitting down on the table in the open space called the dining room. "We're going to make a list of items we should buy for tonight. It's going to be like our old nights of randomosity. So…Help!"

"Hermione, the point of being spontaneous is not thinking about it before doing it. No lists, no prepositions. We'll just go and buy!"

Harry grabbed her forearm, not too hard to the point where it would ache, and disapparated instantly, leaving nearly a hundred traces of them being there that evening.

**XXX**

It probably wouldn't have been the best choice for Harry to have taken Hermione into _Madam Malkin's Robes For All Occasions_ that night, only because stirring vicously within the deep pits of his stomach he knew something bad would arise. He should have just paid for her favorite treat—vanilla and peanut butter ice cream with chopped nuts—and left her sitting in Florean's parlor eating it while he went into the store himself.

The second that the old woman, whose only intention was to help them out, fixed up the pair of pants they wanted to purchase, Hermione's eyes started watering and a shy smile fell upon her face. A smile that lands on the face of a saddened person while thinking about lost times.

"You know, Harry, he still loves Quidditch to this day, even though he was never able to catch that blasted golden ball."

Harry only shook his head in disappointment at his failed attempts as Madame Malkin gave the brunette a worried look.

**XXX**

A little more than an hour later—Hermione blamed it on Harry's tendency to lose sight of track and wander aimlessly—they arrived back at her flat and they thanked that no one had shown up yet.

Floating behind them were bags filled with a variety of potato chips, bottles upon bottles of butterbeer, a couple bottles of firewhisky due to Harry's begging, popcorn, frozen pizzas, and more sugar to last them for days. Hermione had tried to pick up something a bit more on the healthy side, but her persistent little friend would not let her even get close to the shopping cart with that 'rabbit food'.

As they were trying to chill one half of the butterbeer and warm the other half, their guests started popping in or tumbling through the fire place. Ginny and Ana had arrived first, beating Ron and Lavender by a second as they apparated instead of flooing.

Ana had rushed to her brunette friend the second she laid eyes on her, wanting to comfort her.

"Everything will be okay. I promise," she whispered into her ear.

And a sudden feeling washed over Hermione, something she hadn't felt in a long time. Maybe it was the fact that someone she barely knew, cared so much about her, or maybe it was a repeat of what happened in her first year at Hogwarts.

"Oh my gosh, where are my manners," she suddenly burst. With a quick reach out to Harry's arm, she pulled him towards the other girl. "Harry, this is Ana, the new intern I was telling you about. Ana, this is my best friend, Harry Potter," and she watched as they awkwardly shook hands and tried to hide their blushing cheeks.

"Okay, enough you two," she smiled, turning to retrieve something from one of the bags, laying lifelessly on her dining table. "Ana, now that you're here, you have become part of our 'group' you are required to wear these every night of randomosity!"

The blonde took the contents out from it, revealing a replica of the pants that Hermione had never taken off that evening, except they were orange. It was one of the few things Hermione knew about her, orange was her favorite color. She then turned to Lavender, squeezing her way in between the pregnant woman and her husband, pushing Ron to tumble.

"My wonderful Lavender. I still wonder to this day how you can stand this loaf of a man you decided to marry..."

"Hey, I resent that!" the aforementioned 'loaf' exclaimed, trying to straighten himself back on the sofa.

Hermione and Lavender just waved away his comment.

"Therefore, I think you truly deserve these." She now had her own pair of purple pajama pants with golden snitches practically flying about. "I had the Madam Malkin charm it to fit when you get farther along," Hermione whispered into her ear.

They embraced tighter than either had before due to Lavender's hormones beginning to rise at an incredible rate and Hermione's emotional tendencies those days. "You have no idea how much this means to me," she whispered back into the other girl's ear.

"Okay then," Harry began, not bothering to use his wand to carry all the food into the living room, but rather bundling them all in his arms while everyone watching the bag of cheese puffs almost fall out. "We've brought all sorts of drinks and chips to last us long enough…"

"Not if I can help it," Ron interrupted with a grin not suited for him.

"Gosh, you're such a pig Ron. Share the wealth." Ginny just couldn't help herself. Being the only sister in a pod of seven kids, she learned to always say something back. He was just lucky enough that she wasn't in reaching distance of his head or any objects that would help her improve her chucking skills.

"I wouldn't be talking dear _sister_. I'm not the pregnant one who is in fact capable of shoving things unimaginable into my stomach."

"Don't shoot it down until you try it!"

"How _do _you stand it," Hermione asked to Lavender knowing that Ron wouldn't bother himself with listening to her.

"Trust me though, some days I can't!"

Soon enough after the brotherly love died down, they all settled on starting the night off by watching a movie on Hermione's television set. Even though it was Ministry approved in order to receive the Wizarding Movie Network, they decided to stick to some muggle classics. Well, not really classic since Ginny had almost been on the verge of tears after begging and persuading Hermione to let them watch Titanic.

"Oh boy, could this be any more of a depressing movie?" Ron asked rolling his eyes and folding his arms even tighter across his chest.

"This is the happy part, Ron," Ana retorted. "They're starting to fall in love, that's why it's classified as a romance."

Pointing his arm across at the television, almost smacking Hermione in the face as she was sitting in between his legs on the floor, he shouted, "What does this Jack fellow even see in this girl. She's got lips way too big for her face and the second she boarded that ship she's had this snooty look on her face. Remind you of anyone?"

"Pansy Parkinson," Harry said immediately.

All heads turned his way and the room went silent again except for the television, which seemed to have had it's volume turned down.

"What? I'm right aren't I?"

"Yeah, mate. It's terribly scary how we think like this though." Ron looked away, trying not to say anything else for awhile.

After the boys decided it would only be fair to watch a movie with a little less romance and more violence, Hermione decided to bring out a bunch of spare pillows and blankets for everyone. The temperature seemed to be dropping below average out in the cold air. They decided instead of heating up the room with a charm it would be a better idea to throw some logs into the fireplace and use it for more than just transportation. Since it was tradition, everyone had to sleep on the living room floor. Except, of course, the two women waiting for babies had been given two conjured beds.

In the middle some pop-culture game, Hermione and Leanne decided that they were in a losing battle with their protesting eyelids. Ana feel asleep only minutes before Hermione doze off, thinking of thoughts of one other person. Certain scenes from their first movie were lingering in her dream which including a painting canvas minus the clothing.

After cheering and a few rounds of laughter from those left awake, they barely heard it, but it was still there. Silently, Hermione began talking in her sleep.

"Draco…" The expression on her face was priceless. "Should I move the blanket this way?"

Ginny gave an exasperated chuckle.

"Oh brother…"**  
**

* * *

Please, please, please leave reviews. I want honest opinions, not just "great chapter!" I want to know what parts you guys loved and what parts needed more work. And I want as many suggestions as you can give. I know exactly how the story will play out, but I need small filler parts. Please!!


	6. Valentine's Turnaround

I know that this is a little too late for Valentine's Day, but you will all understand, right?

**Chapter Six  
Valentine's Turnaround**

When Ginny had apparated into her best friend's apartment, she had been expecting a little more than bland decoration and a woman still in her pajamas at six in the evening. The plain blue, same-old vase was sitting in the middle of her kitchen table without any of the roses that had been sent to her all day. Ginny knew that she had received at _least_ three dozen. One dozen of red roses from Harry, one dozen of yellow and pink roses from Blaise with a note attached that read _'You are still as bright as ever, my love,'_ and one from herself that had different colored roses, all counting thirteen in total.

It had been a bit over a month since their little sleep over –slash- get together –slash- randomosity event, where Hermione had accidentally spilled out the beans about some of her fantasies starring the ever-so popular Draco. And as the month slowly went by, her signs of depression and hourly cries had become more frequent and intolerable in public.

The red-head took her fanciest black cloak off, setting it on the arm of the couch, dropped off the paper sack she had been holding onto the counter, and walked over to her best friend, completely speechless.

Her hair looked like it hadn't been brushed, or washed for that matter, in over a week. Dark circles were terrifyingly visible underneath her eyes, and Ginny could have sworn that Hermione had not washed that shirt in over two weeks.

"Hermione, dear, I'm sorry to say this, but you are a ghastly disaster."

All she received in return was a shrug of the shoulders, not even any eye contact because her now dull brown eyes were fixed on the blank television screen. Ginny took her fingers, and roughly began rubbing her temples, trying to prevent a massive headache from entering. She definitely could not have anything ruin her night, and she vowed that not even Hermione could do that.

Blaise was finally taking her out for a romantic evening, the first one since they had found out they would be parents, and she was completely ecstatic and ready to go. To say the least, she looked incredible that night. But, remember, this is Hermione's story.

"I know you can hear me, even though you won't talk back. Being the wonderful friend that I am, I decided to stop by to check on you, and bring you some left-over's from dinner last night. I set them in your kitchen, and by the time I come over tomorrow, they better be gone, whether you eat them willingly or if I have to send Harry over to do it himself."

She grabbed the sides of her best friend's face, jerking it to look as best as she could into her eyes.

"Do you understand?"

"Yes."

The look on Ginny's face was priceless, after it had registered in her mind that Hermione had spoken to her.

"Please don't ruin this night for Harry and Ana. He's finally in a happy place. Don't do that to him, okay?"

"Just go take advantage of this day and drink your _fancy_ wine and eat _heart_ shaped candies. Remember me when you stuff your face with love." Hermione jerked her face back, forcing Ginny's hands away.

Taking the hint that Hermione wanted to be alone, the fearful redhead grabbed her coat and put it back on, stepping closer to the door. Before opening it halfway, she turned back once more.

"By the way, Happy Valentine's day."

Hermione mumbled something in return, but only after Ginny had almost slammed the door, just so that she wouldn't hear it.

Really, it wasn't that she wanted to be a downright grouch, but couldn't everyone just lighten up and leave her alone for the day? Harry had already stopped by earlier, apologizing furiously that he couldn't spend time with her because he had a hot date with _her_ friend. How ruder could that have been? Just leaving her for some girl he thought he had a connection with.

Of course, those were just Hermione's thoughts.

She had no intention of celebrating the Hallmark holiday, and it was not because she was deficient in the relationship category and couldn't rack up the guts to spend time in public. Going out to the pubs and bars and clubs were completely out of the question, seeing as how she would obviously always run into Malfoy everywhere she went.

It was never the fact that she thought she would bump into Todd or Philip (a patient of hers at the hospital that had never given up on asking her out on a date, which she of course refused every time, even after he was released). All that mattered was the small chance of seeing those gray eyes again. It was even worse that he knew she still loved him. She blurted it out in the hospital a month ago, remember?

She pushed the thoughts of Valentine's Day out of her head and reminded herself that it was just February fourteenth and that there was nothing special in that. It was just another day in the month of February that had pass by in order to reach tomorrow.

The television turned on with a simple spell, and Hermione began flipping through the channels with a flick of her wrist. She wanted to watch a good movie that had nothing to do with love, or at least the most minimal amount.

Twenty minutes went by as she searched through the scroll of channels over five times, completely dissatisfied with whatever show or movie marathon that had been playing. Damn, the woman could be so indecisive. What ever happened to the Granger that would never let anything get to her?

And then of course, she didn't care. All she wanted was to forget about her problems. But she didn't want to forget about her problems. Because her problems all revolved around the one guy she truly loved, and still loves.

_'Damn it all,'_ she thought, springing up from the couch like no one expected it. Grabbing her coat, not even taking a chance to look into a mirror because she thought they were all pointless at that moment in time, and not even worrying that she still had her slippers on, she apparated into the back alley of nowhere.

With her thoughts in a bundle, weaving back and forth with no particular direction, they seemed to have distorted everything, forcing Hermione to land on a metal trash bin. She went straight, but sloppily, crashing into the ground, almost hitting her head on the brick wall behind her.

Seeing absolutely no need to straighten herself out, because she knew her body and image looked like a train wreck and did not care who would see her, she stood straight up and walked right out of the alley, with no confidence in her steps. All she knew was that her feet were leading the way, because she had no idea where she had ended up or where in the absolute hell she was going.

The streets were full of neon lights, moving lights attracting innocent passer-bys to stop right in their stores. After walking no more than five minutes with her hands tucked tight in the pockets of her jacket, Hermione found herself in front of a grocery store. Just a plain place to buy food with no fancy flashing sign and practically no people inside besides a couple workers.

Deciding there was no harm in the act of indulging in some comfort food for the night, Hermione pulled the door open, ignoring the people behind the cash machines. Grabbing a plain red basket from the pile next to the vegetables, she walked straight to the first aisle to roam in search of what to eat.

There was no use for bread or peanut butter or jelly, so she moved straight to the second aisle, instantly spotting a box of her favorite cereal: Chex. Just because she was having a month-long breakdown, did not mean she was leaving behind her healthy habits. Well, maybe the exercising.

Ten minutes, two boxes of moon pies, a bag of peanut M&Ms, a container of the fattiest potato chips she could find, and a packet of Oreo cookies later Hermione was ready to lead the way to a fat filled night. The only problem was that she forgot the pint of ice cream she tried reminding herself to get. All her items were sitting on the conveyor belt, ready to be scanned, when she instantly remembered.

"Hold on, I'll be right back," she told the man behind the counter, with a frantic look on her face. Practically sprinting to the freezer aisle, Hermione prepared herself to open the frosted glass door, when she suddenly felt a hard something ram her head, causing her to fall backwards and land on her bottom. As if falling once already wasn't bad enough.

"Oh my goodness, are you okay?" came the deep but sweet voice of someone in front of her—she guessed it was whatever had hit her in the head. Except she couldn't focus on the man kneeling in front of her, seeing doubles, sometimes triples as he spun around in circles. "Can you tell how many fingers I'm holding up," he asked.

"Four. Wait, now six… Nope it's four again."

"Here, let me help you up." He encircled his arms around her waist, gently tugging her up, making sure her feet could stay firm on the floor. "I'm so sorry for hitting you like that, but you just popped out of nowhere."

"Yeah, sorry about that." She was finally regaining her normal vision back, taking a good look at the man in front of her.

His hair was such a dark brown, that it almost reminded her of Harry's hair except that it wasn't a messy disaster. He had deep brown eyes that she tried to avoid looking at too long, to keep her embarrassment from showing on her face. But she finally jerked back into reality when she realized that his arms were still rigid around her waist.

"Um, you can let go of me now. I'm fine."

His arms pulled away as if in a panic, letting his guard down. His eyes turned towards the ground while he scratched the back of his head, at the same time Hermione finally tried ceasing away with those nasty wrinkles on her shirt.

She noticed the way his eyes sort of traveled towards her in an inconspicuous way, making her more nervous about the situation she was in.

"I think I'll just grab my ice cream and go now. Thanks for helping me." Hermione tried avoiding him, but it was useless because he was kind of in her way, standing in front of the door she needed to get into. "Um… excuse me." And she admitted, he looked sort of cute.

"Well, you know I was just about to reach for a pint of it, too, until you came crashing into my world."

_Did he just try using a pick-up line on me?_ Hermione thought, knowing that her cheeks were completely betraying her at that moment.

Before she could respond though, he turned around opening the glass door just a smidge that led to what they both wanted, and pulled out a pint of Ben and Jerry's Phish Food. Noticing what he had in his hand, Hermione tugged on the door, forcing it even wider. Her eyes opened even larger with the new knowledge that there were absolutely no more pints of the only ice cream that could make everything go away.

"There is no way you are taking that," she spoke with firmness in her voice, demanding him to hand her the container at that instant before she rationalized to hurting him.

"Really, and what's going to stop me?" the mysterious man replied.

"Me!" She was getting a bit aggravated at the moment, that she didn't even care about the fact that he could completely see the flushed look on her face. "I've had a terrible past two months, everything has become worse in the span of twelve hours, and the only thing that can bring me closer to salvation is the exact thing you are holding."

The only thing she received in response was a small grin forming on the man's face.

"Please, tell me, what is so amusing?" she asked hoping that he would just hand over the damn box.

"You look even more adorable when you're flustered."

The redness in her cheeks only increased even more, and being absolutely embarrassed, Hermione turned to walk back to the cashier.

"Wait," he called out after her, actually making her turn back around to face him. "I didn't mean to offend you."

"You know something, mister. It's not a smart thing to play with a woman's emotions just to get what you want. You can have the dang ice cream, I don't want it."

He had a perplexed look on his face and asked, "What do you mean? I meant it, you're adorable." There was a long pause as Hermione was in a weird state, looking at him with confusion written all within her eyes. "Listen, how about we start over? My name is Ian Landon, it's a pleasure to meet you," he introduced himself and stuck his hand out, hoping she would shake it in return.

"Hermione Granger. Nice to meet you, too," she replied, wearily returning his gesture.

"Awh, so you're the infamous girl who saved our world," he alleged with a knowing look in his eyes.

"So _Ian_, you're a wizard as well, here in the middle of muggle London?"

"Yes, one of the privileged few. And my dear, you are nowhere close to muggle London. You're in hidden Wizarding half of Cambridge."

"Oh…"

"I haven't had such a great Valentine's day as well. What do you say you join me for some Phish Food? It's on me."

"Sorry, but I barely know you and it's getting late to be out," Hermione's innocent side spoke up.

"Well, I don't know you too well either. Besides, it's never too late for two people to get to know each other. What do you say?"

Ian was practically begging, and Hermione had no idea why he would want to spend time with _her_ out of all people. She knew she looked like a complete disaster, so what did he see in her?

"Sure," she finally decided on taking a step up to keep moving along. "Let me put everything away."

Hermione had no idea what had happened within the past few minutes, but she had a certain feeling in her gut. It wasn't trying to tell her to be careful, but to take a jump. And it was that certain feeling that scared her. Here was a man she had never known before, asking her to practically go on a date after five minutes of bumping into him. But there was something about him that made her want to never finish her sentences and keep her from wanted to say much.

"Ready?" she asked after he paid for the carton of dreams.

Holding the door open for her—a gesture she absolutely loved—they walked out onto the street Hermione had landed on only a while beforehand. Ian popped the top of the container open, threw it in the trash, and handed her one of the spoons her bought. While walking, he offered her the first bite.

"You better get a good spoonful, one with the marshmallows," Ian said, keeping his eyes fixed on her.

"Are you kidding me," she retorted looking straight back at him. "The chocolate fish are the best part." She held onto the bottom of the carton for reassurance and dug the spoon in, scooping up a large chunk of chocolate ice cream with tiny fish sticking out and some marshmallow stretching out. She slowly put the spoon in her mouth, closing her eyes and enjoying the taste of her favorite treat.

"You really love this stuff don't you?" Ian asked, amazed at the fact she could entirely indulge into it.

"A few bites of this stuff could turn everything around."

His brown eyes lit up as he kept on watching the looks on her face as she enjoyed her second bite, leaving him to still take his first.

"Now that I know what your comfort food is, tell me more about yourself."

Hermione just couldn't help asking herself as to why this man wanted to know so much about her, but she answered him anyway.

"Let's see… I'm twenty-six years old, I now live by myself if you don't count the two cats that invade my flat, and my social life is a complete dud right now. I'm telling you Ian, I'm not a very interesting person and my life is lame."

"Oh, I highly doubt that," he replied after swallowing his first bite. "Tell me about your past then."

"Ha. That's not the highlight of my life, but if you insist… I was born in England— London actually—but grew up in Chelsea…"

"Oh, I see, you're bragging now…" he toyed around, making his grin a bit bigger.

Hermione quickly huffed and replied, "I am _not_ bragging. You wanted to know, so I'm telling you. Both my parents are dentists and sort of like to show off, okay?" Receiving nothing but a cocky eyebrow lift from him, she continued. "When I turned eleven, I was invited to attend Hogwarts and let me tell you, it came as a complete shock seeing as how I was a muggle. But I love the place, it is where I met all of the friends I have now. Seriously, those were the best seven years of my life."

"Fond of memories, aren't you?" he asked, coming to a complete stop beside what look like a living complex.

"Actually, yes I am."

Ian lifted down a set of metal stairs, for her to go ahead. "Ladies first." Seeing no risk whatsoever at that moment and deciding to take chances without thinking, Hermione took the first step after giving Ian a grin that time.

"Anything else you want to know?" she asked, finally reaching the end of the never-ending steps.

Without answering her question Ian took her hand into his, gently leading her to the end of the rooftop he had led her to, the side facing the opposite direction of the street below them. Before they were close to the edge, Hermione halted to a stop.

"One thing you should know about me, I'm terrified of heights." Her face was priceless at that moment and her new found friend couldn't help but smile at the way she looked.

"I know you just met me, but you can trust me. It'll be worth it, I promise." He slowly led her to the end, never letting go of her for even a split second, and sat down far enough from the edge that would keep her mind from going astray.

"Wow," she gasped.

On the side of the building they were on, they could see so many stars and the moon in background. Hermione knew Ian had done it my magic, making all the city lights fade, but it was still a sight she missed looking at.

"How about you're job," Ian decided to asking before taking another scoop of ice cream.

"Well, it may not be the best job a witch could have, but I'm a Healer down at St. Mungo's. There's just something magical about seeing a patient's face light up when they find out they're going to be okay."

"How long have you been there?" he asked with actual interest.

"About five years now. I started out with an apprenticeship with the Healer down at Hogwarts for awhile. Enough about my job though. Anything else you want to ask me?"

"Do you kiss on the first date?"


	7. A New Project

After finally finishing this chapter, I have come to realize that it has been almost six months since I last updated this story. And no amount of apologies is going to change the fact that I practically neglected fan fiction for a long time. But don't think that I haven't thought about working on this. Because I've wanted nothing more than to work out the kinks in my stories and get the ball rolling.

The chapters are going to be a little shorter from now on, but I promise to finish this story soon. No more long awaited updates.

Oh, and more stories will be posted soon. But I just need a beta, can someone help me out?

**Chapter Seven  
A New Project**

For some strange reason, Hermione just could not get those damned butterflies out of her stomach. She tried drowning them with glasses upon glasses of water and that never seemed to work except for the constant trips to the bathroom. Even though she wanted to rid her belly of them, she couldn't help but liking the sudden feeling after thinking about a certain someone.

But of course Hermione wouldn't dare keep it to herself. There was so much she wanted to let out, and naturally she would have to tell her best friend.

That last kiss was just half a day in the past, and yet Hermione couldn't get the image of Ian out of her head as she tried making herself a cup of coffee that morning, getting ready for work. She constantly found herself doing strange things that morning and thinking things she hadn't in a while. Humming songs wasn't something that naturally came from her lips, but she was doing it anyway.

Losing interest in her bagel after two bites, Hermione started to write a quick note to Ginny.

_Ginny, I know you said you would stop by later tonight, but this cannot wait. Please say you'll come to the hospital for lunch. Ana will be there, too. Hermione._

She had her work clothes on and her bag in hand when an owl came to the window. 'That was fast', she thought.

_Can't wait!_

Ginny was never the type to write long answers back. She had always said that it was better to share details face to face other than writing it all down and end up with arm cramps.

After pushing the note aside and finally wanting to get to work early enough Hermione apparated herself quickly into St. Mungo's. Using an unlocking charm on her office door she hurried in to set everything down and get her arms clear. Without having five minutes go by while doing some paperwork, a short man appeared in her open doorway.

"Hi Daniel, long time no see," Hermione said once she registered who it was.

"Hello Hermione," Daniel replied stepping farther into her new office. "I see you've settled nicely into your new office."

"Yes, well, I have plenty of space. It's different not seeing all of Head Healer Adam's old stuff in here. He was a pack rat."

"I think it suits you well," he said with one of the brightest smiles Hermione ever saw. "I just came to let you know that Madame Derwent wants to speak with you. She knows you're here early."

"Does she need me know?" she asked, not wanting to leave unfinished paperwork behind.

"Just sometime before your shift starts would be fine," he replied.

"Alright. Thank you Daniel, I'll be there in a moment." She flashed him a genuine smile, the same one she had a hard time keeping off her face, and tried to finish the report she had been working on.

She knocked on the closed door when she had appeared at Madame Derwent's office. The door seemed to have opened on its own and the sweat smile on her boss' face welcomed her to take a seat. And for the first time she noticed how terribly uncomfortable those chairs actually were.

"You wanted to see me ma'am?" Hermione said after attempting to get comfortable.

"Hermione dear, you never will learn will you? It's _Kim_, please," the older lady said, refusing to show any annoyance upon her features. She tended to do that a lot, her reasoning being that emotions age the face faster.

"Sorry, _Kim_. You needed to see me?" she asked again the right way.

"Yes, as a matter of fact, I need your assistance with something new." A smile, actually it was more of a smirk mixed with a sly grin, appeared on her features. "There's something that I wasn't to try with some of the sectors on your floor. After getting to know you all these years and observing your impeccable leading skills, you'll be perfect to take this on."

"Should I be scared at this point?" Hermione asked afraid to know what this would project would be and if it would have to take her out of the country again. And that was something she could _not_ have at that moment.

"No, dear, it will be fine. No leaving the country, I promise," the woman replied noticing the look of panic on her best worker's face. "This will require more teamwork from everybody, but you will be in charge of making sure everything goes smoothly. Think of it as being a supervisor, even to all the other sector leaders."

"Another promotion? Already?"

"Not exactly. Let's call this a trial run? Yes that's it. We're just testing some new procedures in the work area. I will be going along with Daniel and a few other office employees to open up the doors between a few of the sectors. After careful thinking, I have decided to start off with just Sectors Five, Six, Seven, and Eight. We're going to take the middle smaller sectors on the floor and more or less knock down the walls.

"Now this cannot be confused as boundaries go, because each sector will still have its own Head Healer. After some observations I have come to notice that some sectors seem to get overloaded with work while others are slower than the Chudley Cannons on a good game day."

Hermione chuckled lightly at the mention of an insult to Ron's favorite team.

"Yes, therefore I figure if walls were open and the Head Healers of these sections would have open communication with each other, all Healers within grouped sectors would be able to help each other. And in order to make sure that everything stays on track and goes smoothly, I need someone who actually works in that area to be in charge and write reports every so often.

"You are one of my best workers, Hermione." The brunette blushed at receiving a compliment. "I know that there have been a few issues lately regarding you and Mr. Malfoy, but I trust you will both work professionally?"

"Yes, Kim. I will take this job to heart. No worries."

"Perfect. Now all I need is for you to let the other Head Healers know that I will be conducting a short meeting about this later this afternoon. I hope you will relay the message for everyone to be here promptly at 4:30."

"Of course," Hermione replied with an uncontrollable smile. She nodded her head to her boss and headed for the door. "See you later, Ma'am."

"It's Kim!" she heard her say after closing the door.

**XXX**

The day seemed to go by excruciatingly slow for Hermione. All she wanted to do was tell her girlfriends about everything that went on the night before; it was something she just could not get off of her mind. She wanted to hand them proof that she could do it, even if it had been on her own.

The past three hours into the shift had seemed like six. It was a slow day in Sector Seven. The merge of sectors hadn't happened yet, so she was still only in charge of her own spot.

She had already given the message about the meeting to Head Healers Mark and Isaac of Sectors Five and Six. It wasn't as if she didn't want to give Draco the message, it was just that every time she would get within a close enough distance to him, he would walk away. _He_ was the one being childish and choosing to completely ignore her.

But Hermione would not take it anymore. It was almost lunch and Ginny would soon arrive. There was no way in hell she would let that rude-ass of a man turn a good day into a ranting one.

Dropping off some papers into her office and giving a quick word to Ana about meeting her soon, she set off toward the double doors that would no doubt lead into hell. No sooner had she passed in front of a nurse's station, had one of the plump ladies asked for her to 'hold on a second, dear' with a sweet voice.

"Can you just please sign off on this form? It's just an insurance policy gone wrong that needs to be sent to Madame Derwent."

As soon as the witch finished her sentence, she saw the man she needed to go look for, coming through the doors that she had been headed towards. Wanting to play it off as if she hadn't seen Draco, Hermione didn't dare turn her head and sweetly took the clipboard from the nurse behind the desk.

"Sure thing, Susan," Hermione replied as the blonde-haired devil walked up to stand behind her.

Hermione handed the forms back, and turned around, pretending to be surprised at bumping into Draco.

"Oh!" she squealed.

"I heard you had been looking for me," he said with drawl sounding uninterested.

"Um… Yeah. There's this meeting later on at 4:30 that you, Mark, Isaac and I have to attend in Madame Derwent's office." It felt so weird to talk to him face to face after so long. Hermione just wanted to curl into a ball and roll away.

"Don't you mean _Kim_?"

His cocky ass could go to hell for all she cared, but she wanted him to go away.

"Yes, Kim," she replied back with a snippy attitude.

After a few seconds of silence he turned to walk off. But not without noticing a woman from the front desk on the bottom level walking in with a bouquet of white roses so huge everyone probably wondered how the woman managed to walk straight.

"Miss Hermione, these are for you," the woman said with a curt tone to her voice, setting them on the counter besides where Hermione had been standing.

The smart witch was so shocked and in awe, she barely forgot to say thanks to the woman. She stupidly wondered who they could have been from, but smiled deeply when she saw Ian's name on the card tied to the vase.

"Another fuck buddy situation gone wrong, has it, Granger?"

"Why? Jealous are you, Malfoy?" Even though she was ecstatic at the situation, she could barely hold back the smirk that appeared on her face when he scowled and walked away.

**XXX**

According to Hermione, her day could not get any better.

Eating her lunch was the farthest thing from her mind, so her salad was left alone to the side. Ana and Ginny were listening intently and clung to every word she told them about her surprise Valentine's night. Ginny of course, being the pregnant woman that she was, stuffed her face with salad marinated in dressing, and proceeded to eat her best friend's plate as well.

After telling them about the kiss, the brunette had a dreamy look on her and she looked lost.

"What about those roses?" Ana asked eager to know.

"Roses, what roses?" Ginny asked, looking surprised with her mouth still full of lettuce pieces, reminding Hermione more than ever that the redhead really was related to Ron.

"Ian had sent me a huge bouquet of roses right before lunch. White roses, Ginny! Can you believe it? I just met him yesterday." She was suddenly overcome with shock. "Do you think I'm in over myself here?"

Ana replied instantly, "No way Hermione. Plus, if it doesn't work out, he'll just be another guy you have sex with."

"But we haven't gotten that far yet. I'm not that much of a slut."

"Trust me, Hermione," Ginny said after clearing her plate, "you will soon. This guy must be a hunk. When are you seeing him next?"

"Well in the note he left with the roses, he mentioned wanting to go out on Friday night. He's meeting me at my house at eight."

"I'm happy for you, Hermione. Take advantage of this opportunity."

But what the girls had no idea of, was that a certain jealous blonde man was standing outside the door. And _he_ was not happy.


	8. Draco's Mistake

**A/N:** Yay, update time! And I'm doing a lot better now, aren't I? It's only been one week. This chapter is longer because I'm in such a happy mood. My favorite band's CD, singularity, just came out today, and I love it! Go listen to **MAE**.

I love this story so much, and I thought a lot of you guys did, too. What happened since 'Dear Diary' was finished? Everyone loved that story… Only four reviews on my last chapter!! What do I need to do to find more people to read my story? Please anyone give me some ideas.

And please, please review.

**Chapter Eight**

**Draco's Mistake**

Draco Malfoy was pacing back and forth in his living room, looking absolutely livid. His arms were crossed roughly across his chest and he took long and forceful steps.

First, he had found out that Hermione was getting attached to another man, very quickly, too. And it didn't help his frustration when he found out what was going on at work. Being around that woman completely frustrated him, and he had no idea as to why that was. The first thing that popped into his mind was that he was still not over the whole New Year's incident.

But deep down he knew there was more to it.

There was an air of impatience around him, but it all disappeared when his best friend emerged through the fireplace.

"Is this really so important that you had to interrupt me and Ginny?" He asked, brushing some soot off of his shirt.

"Humph," he exclaimed, dropping down with a muffled thud on his sofa.

"What is it, Draco?" Blaise asked, soft of annoyed. He'd had enough of his ranting and complaining.

"What do you think it is, you dolt?"

"I'm not going to help you if all you're going to do is insult me and not listen to me!"

"Fine… It's Granger…"

"Let me guess…" Blaise began, tapping his finger on his chin, pretending to think, "you're jealous because Hermione found an _honest_ boyfriend, one you didn't hire to break her heart, and she's happy. Is that it?"

"…In a nutshell, yes." Draco lifted himself off of the sofa and began his maddening pacing again. "She's not supposed to be happy."

"And why not," the dark haired man asked in confusion, "she has just as much of a right as you do to be happy."

"Not when I'm here suffering everyday!"

"Now tell me, why are you suffering dear Draco?" he asked, acting like he was a psychiatrist.

"I don't know… Yes, what she did was stupid, but I think I've also acting foolishly, and I don't know what to do… what to do about these damn feelings, Blaise!"

"Well, first you need to stop calling her Granger, treat her with some respect. All she's trying to do is move on. She's already tried everything she could have to ask for forgiveness, but all you did was brush her away."

"What else was I supposed to? I walked in on her sleeping with some other guy! I was furious!" He threw his hands up in the air, exasperated, tired of fighting.

"I think you still are," Blaise replied wisely.

"Duh! But I don't want to be. All I want is to have her back in my arms again. Blaise, you know what love feels like, what would you feel if Ginny betrayed you, but the feeling of love was stronger than that of disappointment?"

"Of course I would want her back in a heartbeat. But it takes longer than that for things to heal."

They were silent for a moment with Draco still pacing and Blaise tapping his fingers on his knee.

"I know what I need to do." Draco raised his eyebrows in defeat. "I need to talk to her."

**XXX**

Hermione had just apparated into her apartment after a really long day at work. Madame Derwent held that aforementioned meeting, which in all actuality had taken longer than expected, and then she stayed and worked on reports that she absolutely _needed_ to have finished.

She dropped her bag onto the couch, not giving it a second glace as she began to tug on the hem of her shirt, slipping it off over her head. When she reached her bedroom, she slid her shoes off, leaving them forgotten in the doorway to her closet. After taking the rest of her clothing off and throwing them into her hamper, she walked to the bathroom, eager for a bath.

Leaving the door cracked a bit for her cats to wander in and out, she went to start the water, also pouring some bubbles in, that she had bought from the spa she had visited earlier in the year.

When the tub was full enough, she slipped in, not even flinching from how hot the water was. She needed it and her muscles needed it more.

And just like she had expected, Crookshanks trotted into the bathroom, squeezing his way in, trying hard not to move the door. Then little Ivory followed in. Both cats sat on the small rug by the tub, looking intently at their owner.

It was weird. Hermione felt like her cats always knew when she was stressed, or at least when she wanted to be around someone. She did enjoy their company, even though she would never admit it out loud.

_Meow_. The older cat pleaded, asking for Hermione to speak up.

"What is it Crookshanks? Are you here to give me some love, too?"

Her soapy arm reached out of the tub and started scratching the orange cat behind the ear. She would never be surprised at the cat, he was never scared of anything, even water and bubbles.

"I met someone, you know?" She now spoke to both cats. "He's quite handsome. You'd like him Ivory."

_Meow_. The black cat tilted it head to the side, as if interested in hearing about this man.

"His name is Ian. He is quite the gentleman and a _very_ good kisser. I met him last night, and he's taking me out on Friday. Isn't that exciting?"

_Meow_.

"I knew you would think so."

She turned away, satisfied with their conversation, if you would call it that, and began washing herself with the bubbles. When the bubbles had almost all evaporated, she turned back to her cats with another question.

"Do you think its okay for me to forget?"

No reply.

"I still do truly love him, but how can I linger on him forever if he'll never give me the chance."

_Meow_, the wise cat said, but really meant, _you'll never forget._

Before Hermione could respond, she heard a loud thud coming from her living room. Frightened for her well-being, she quickly took hold of the thick black robe from the hook that it hung off and quickly tied the long rope around her body while getting out of the tub.

She took a good firm grip on her wand before stepping out of the room with her cats in tow.

Hermione instantly lowered her wand when she saw none other than Harry Potter trying to lift himself off the ground, rubbing his behind.

"Harry, what happened?" she asked worried while rushing to him as if he were one of the sick patients at St. Mungo's."

"It would seem obvious that I, the King of all clumsiness, have apparated onto your coffee table, giving my bum a nice sore to remember."

"Awh, you big baby… Want Miss Hermione to kiss it and make it all better?" she asked, playfully, chuckling as well while walking towards her kitchen.

"Here, just let me bend over," Harry joked back.

"So what brings you over tonight?"

Before answering, he sat down on one of the barstools on the other side of the kitchen, watching Hermione scramble through the cabinets and refrigerator.

"Nothing really. I did hear from a rather talkative bird that you finally met someone." Harry, being the rather funny person that he is, wiggled his eyebrows to make his point across.

"Actually," Hermione began, holding her head up high, while opening a box of pasta, "yes I did."

She continued on to explain what had happened the night before, and introducing the idea of Ian to Harry, all while fixing up a nice dinner of pasta and chicken.

"Well, he sounds like quite the catch. I'm happy for you Hermione."

"Yes, it is rather nice," she replied, not being able to rid the smile that took stayed on her features.

And before Hermione could ask Harry if he wanted to join herself and Ginny for dinner, an owl started tapping incessantly on the window. Without even asking, the black haired friend stood up and practically ran over to the window to let the owl in. After giving it a nice treat and some water, Harry let the owl back out.

"Here you go, Hermione," he said, dropping the small envelope on the counter in between the kitchen and the invisible bar he sat at.

Taking one look at it, Hermione turned it over and threw it towards the vases of flowers still on her dining room table.

"Are you not going to read it?"

"No need to," was her simple reply.

"Who's it from, then?"

Taking a minute to answer, she said, "no one who is of any concern to me now. I recognized his handwriting."

After taking the hint, Harry didn't press the subject on anymore. It was still a sore subject with Hermione, and from experience, he knew that old loves take a while to forget about the pain, even if someone new walks in.

"I was going to ask you earlier, but did you want to stay for dinner, Harry? Ginny's coming over and I have plenty. Maybe I might even invite Ron."

"Sounds good. Thanks Hermione. I bet he's probably already had dinner with Lavender, but knowing dear old Ron, he would be happy for another meal."

"Too true, Harry."

"I'll go owl him."

**XXX**

Friday evening dawned quickly on Hermione and she promised that nothing would take down the smile on her face, not even the though of all the letters she received from Draco throughout the past few days. There was a pile quickly growing on her dining table, and she never bothered replying to them, or even opening them.

She thought that taking a peek at anything he had to say would just ruin the unbelievable high she was on. Even though she hadn't direct contact with Ian since Valentine's Day, she was all the more excited for their date that night. He had owled her that morning at work, though, in order to get her address. Nothing more.

Ian hadn't told her any details, so Hermione had no idea what to expect of their night. She didn't know whether to dress up or not, so she asked Ginny what to do about the situation. Her friend told her to put on a beautiful dress and fix her hair, and if they didn't go anywhere fancy to just change her clothes. It was easier to dress down than dress up.

The clock in her living room indicated that it was now seven o'clock, one hour left, so she stepped out of the bathtub to get ready. And no doubt her cats were following her out of the bathroom. There was no way in hell they wanted to miss this.

After twenty minutes of debating and arguing with her closet, she picked a nice halter dress. It wasn't too long (she wasn't going to a ball you know) but it wasn't too short (and she's not a tramp), it was just perfect with flowing layers of fabric at her knees.

The only thing she didn't like was the color. It was a very light blue, practically a white. She took her wand and muttered a spell right before it turned into a charcoal gray. Not too dark and not too light.

Everything was going perfect, with her choosing everything in the magnitude as to not overdo anything or under-do. At that point, she would have been surprised if the night ended up being less than what she expected.

Her hair was finally done with soft curls cascading down her back and her little amount of makeup was finished. With ten minutes to spare, she walked to her closet to pick out a pair of simple and not-too-high high heels. Just as she slipped the second one on, a knock came from the front door.

At that second, all the butterflies did an encore in her stomach as she flattened out invisible wrinkles in her dress. Right before opening the door, she patted her hair down lightly to make sure it was still there.

Not wanting to wait any longer, Hermione opened the door after receiving a meow of anticipation from Crookshanks.

"Hello, Hermione," Ian greeted with the most gorgeous bouquet of flowers. "These are for you," he said, handing them over.

Hermione gladly took them saying, "Thank you, Ian." She took a wonderful sniff from the middle of them, and loved how the smell lingered in her senses. "Please, come in. I just want to put these in a vase."

While filling up a delicate glass vase with water, she noticed how breath taking he looked dressed in a button down long sleeve shirt, colored in almost the same shade of blue her dress had once been. His black slacks were perfectly pressed and definitely looked expensive, and brand new, too.

"You look beautiful, Hermione," he said after she had walked towards him with a smile. He leaned down to capture her lips with his. "Shall we get going, then?"

Hermione nodded, at a loss for words. She wanted to reach out and pinch herself because she couldn't believe that she could feel that great ever again. But she refrained from doing so. She grabbed her black coat from on top of the sofa where she had laid it, and went to reach for the doorknob.

When she opened the door, her smile instantly disappeared.

"Draco, what are you doing here?" she asked at the broken image of a man standing in front of her apartment.

He didn't answer her, only looking her up and down, taking in how beautiful she looked. "Hermione, we need to talk."

Ian stepped out from behind Hermione, confusion etched into his face. "What's going on? I thought we were leaving."

She turned around and spoke in a whisper to him, "we are, just give me a second, okay?" He nodded and went back into the apartment but not without giving her a kiss on her lips. She stepped out into the cold air, wrapping her coat around her tighter, closing the door behind her.

"Listen, Draco, I can't deal with this right now. I'm leaving to go on a date." Her eyes were saddened by his appearance and noticed it.

"You can't go on this date. This is more important!" He was, in his own way, begging.

"How _dare_ you! How dare you even think about coming over here and act completely selfish! I'm this close," you used her fingers to indicate a small amount, "to finally getting over you. All those letters, and now this. How do you expect me to be civil towards you?"

"I've been thinking lately and I—"

"No," she cut him off. "Don't. Not now. I don't have time for this. I'm finally happy, can't you accept that?"

"I can't."

"Draco… You finally got what you wanted: for me to finally feel guilty about what happened and to stay the hell away from you. And I have delivered in fine fashion. Now all I ask of you is to hold up on your part of the bargain."

"I'm not strong enough…" He couldn't give up, but he knew he wouldn't win.

"I thought the same thing," she replied softly, almost a whisper.

After a few minutes she looked back up into his eyes.

"Do just one thing for me. Let me have my happiness for now. And if later on you find that I'm not happy enough and with all your heart you know, you _absolutely_ know that you can give me more than that then you fight. You fight like hell for it. But not right now." She was begging, pleading him with her eyes. "Okay?"

He didn't answer her. He just put his hands in his pockets and apparated away.

Standing there for a minute or two, Hermione tried with all her might to save that image of him standing there, in her mind.

…

**A/N:** Credit for a line used goes to One Tree Hill. I just couldn't help it, but I did change a few words.


	9. A Date to Remember

**A/N:** So I had received some reviews about the last chapter, and even some PMs, with people wondering what's going on with Ian. Trust me guys, this is a Draco and Hermione story. They will eventually end up together and yes in this story, unlike **Dear Diary**. But please be patient because it will be a slow process just as it is to mend a broken heart. Remember the last chapter of **Dear Diary**, she was so upset.

But I promise, updates will be quick like they have been, so I hope it won't be so agonizing like it used to be. Thank you for sticking through it all.

And before everyone continues, I want to say thank you so much to my new beta, **mskiti**. Without her, my incoherent thoughts would turn you all away. Sometimes my sentences make no sense! Thank you so much Tabi!!

Please review!

**Chapter Nine  
A Date to Remember**

After a few minutes of remembering Draco's face and scent, Hermione pushed it all into her head, only to bring out another day. She ignored the chill from the cold and stepped back into the apartment.

"I'm terribly sorry, Ian." Her face was practically begging for him to not be mad at her.

"Don't worry about it. Now put that smile back on that I love so much."

She blushed at his statement and turned her eyes away from him, so he wouldn't notice. But he wouldn't give it up, so he lifted her chin so she could look back into his eyes, like they were before.

"Please, don't be embarrassed, even though you're absolutely adorable when you get shy like that."

She gave in and smiled, wondering how he could make those damned butterflies appear and disappear.

"How about we just go," she mentioned, grabbing his hand gently, leading him towards the door yet again. She flicked her wand, locking her door tight, and then put it into the pocket hidden on the inside of her coat.

Ian took a hold of her hand, saying, "don't be alarmed, I'm going to apparate us."

Hermione didn't even have a chance to answer him, because she instantly felt the familiar feeling surrounding her. When she opened her eyes they were standing in front of an elegant restaurant. At that moment, she was thanking Ginny for her ideas of dressing up.

"Nothing better than starting off with a normal date, huh?" Ian asked, noticing the smile tugging at the corners of Hermione's lips.

"Yeah," she answered unconsciously, looking all around her at the busy waiters and bus boys, and the fleet of people walking by.

With Hermione's hand still in his, Ian walked up to the gentleman behind the podium, gave him their reservation name, and quicker than any other restaurant they had eve been to, he led them both to their quiet booth in the corner.

Neither of them spoke while they looked over the menu deciding what to eat, even though it really was of no importance to either. All they cared about was getting to know one another. But their server came over to the table, greeted them, and said his name was Benito.

"What can I get you both to drink tonight?"

Ian looked at Hermione, her understanding his look, and he said, "We'll have a bottle of the Antinori Tignanello, please."

The waiter went off to retrieve their wine, and Ian took a look at Hermione.

"A bit extravagant, isn't it?" Hermione asked in regards to the wine, knowing full well she couldn't pay for a bottle of wine like that.

"It's not a problem for me, really. Especially if it means I get a date with the lovely Hermione Granger." He had the most innocent look on his face, and Hermione just couldn't help herself from giggling as the butterflies increased in her stomach.

Benito came back with the wine, pouring some in both of their glasses after Ian had tasted it. When the drinks were set, they both ordered, and of course Ian didn't go without noticing she ordered the most inexpensive meal on the menu.

As they waited for their dinner, Hermione began some conversation.

"We talked so much the other night, but mostly about me, and I hope I didn't come off as egotistical." She blushed when he smiled at her comment. "I just want to talk about you for awhile."

"Of course, but I'm not very _egotistical_ either, so you ask what you want to know." He of course, made her ask the question so he could in turn know more about her. He wanted to know how deep she could get with her questions, and she how truly brave the little Gryffindor was.

"Well, I know that you're not homeless, so you must have a job…?"

"As a matter of fact, I. My uncle is the owner of _Nimbus Racing Broom Company_. It's sad though, really. Since he has no children of his own and with me being his only nephew, I became co-owner."

"No wonder you can pay for a bottle of expensive wine," Hermione said. But really, she was thinking in her mind, _Wonderful, yet another obsessed with Quidditch._

And as if Ian was somehow reading her mind, he replied, "Yeah, it brings in the money, which doesn't bother me at all. But I'm not overly obsessed with the sport, I just love to fly."

"Well I'm not a fan of either… I'm scared of flying," she answered, with the trace of a blush hanging on her cheeks.

"Hopefully I can change that," Ian replied unabashedly.

The blush on Hermione's cheeks just grew, but she definitely had enough courage in her to push it aside. She would not let a guy get to her that quickly…again.

"So is it safe to assume that you don't have any siblings? You know, since your uncle chose to work with you."

"I do have an older sister. She would have been the one to make co-owner, but she can't stand Quidditch either." He took a sip from his glass of wine before adding, "I actually think you two would get along."

"Really? I actually like to think I get along with quite a bit of people."

"Well, aren't you just the social butterfly?"

She tugged on a loose strand of hair, twirling it in between her fingers. "Since I began Hogwarts, yes I have been. It never used to be that way before, you know. No one wanted to be friends with the know-it-all. But wizards and witches are different. They value good friendship and some knowledge every once in a while."

"I'm glad you're a witch then!" Ian rose his glass in the air, offering a toast. "Here's to the smartest witch in a decade, if not in a millennium."

She touched his glass with hers, making a distinct –clink- sound. "Thank you," she responded before following his actions by taking a drink. Hermione did have to admit, he was very charming, and it definitely helped that he had wonderful taste.

"So where exactly do you live?"

"I live where you met me, of course, in Cambridge. Actually my house is on the outskirts, where muggles can't go."

"Do you live by yourself?"

"Unfortunately, yes. I bought this huge house half a decade ago in hopes of filling the space up, but my hopes went up in flames."

Hermione wanted so bad to ask about his past relationships, if any were really serious. She wondered if he had bought the house spontaneously, or did he have a certain someone in mind he wanted to share it with. But she didn't dare. Hermione sometimes didn't want to be rude. Never on purpose.

But before she could continue with their conversation, Benito came back with their dishes ready to be devoured. Of course, not in the sense of Ron's eating habits, but Hermione definitely couldn't deny that her stomach was craving for some food.

When Benito left, Hermione tasted a bite of her pasta, which was delicious by the way.

"You know," she began, "I agree with you."

"About what?" Ian asked curiously.

"Living alone. It's kind of an unfortunate way of living. But I'm beginning to get quite used to it."

"So you haven't lived by yourself for long?"

Hermione looked down to her plate before answering. For some reason she didn't like thinking about Ginny leaving her alone.

"No, just a couple months. One of my best friends used to share my apartment with me, but now she's pregnant and getting married in a few months, so now she's living with her soon-to-be husband."

She paused, silently wondering what it would have been like to share her place with Draco. But she quickly berated herself for letting loose thoughts wander into her mind like that.

"I do have two cats though. I have this strange habit of talking to them, so it must be an insane and dangerous habit of being lonely."

"Trust me, I have no thoughts of you being insane."

"That's very reassuring," she replied truthfully.

They ate for a few minutes, no conversation striking them. Ian, though, after eating a bit, put his fork down and scratched the back of his head, wondering of how to approach something that had been on his mind. Hermione of course noticed this.

"I know you said you didn't want to talk about you, but there's just something I want to ask you." She nodded her consent. "Who was that bloke at your door before?"

Hermione swore up and down that she felt her throat tighten up.

"Umm…" she started, taking a deep breath to keep herself from hyperventilating. "Actually that was my ex-boyfriend… Draco Malfoy."

"Oh…"

"Yeah, it wasn't one of the greatest turn-outs in history. It's all just a big mess, but I'm getting over it all, and hopefully he is too."

Hermione hoped and silently prayed that he wouldn't take the conversation to the next level. Talking about her past love just was not something she thought she could handle at that moment, especially since Draco had just shown up at her door less than an hour ago. But somehow she knew he would ask.

"You probably don't want to talk about it, but what went wrong?"

She resisted from taking a lash at him. She really, really liked Ian and hoped they could go farther in their relationship, and she definitely didn't want to ruin it with her temper. So she took her time to find the right words.

"There were a few contributing factors, but it all boiled down to me doing something so stupid. I completely regretted it, but I know I wasn't in my right mind. So I know to never do it again." Her eyes glazed over, not realizing it, and her eyes sort of lost focus. "After he found out, everything sort of broke down. He would just ignore me constantly. Today was the first time he actually reached out to me to talk about it.

"But I've come to realize that there's no point in dwelling on it because good things come when you're open to them."

"I can't say I'm glad that what you went through actually happened, but I'm glad that at the end of it, I found you."

Hermione rose out of her stupor, cursing Draco for doing it to her again, but she smiled at Ian, knowing full well she could be happy.

"I am too, Ian Landon.

After they more or less cleared their plates and Ian paid for their dinner, refusing to let Hermione take a peek at the check, he apparated them back to the front door of Hermione's apartment. Ian took her warm hand in his, and laid a romantic kiss on it, leaving a wonderful sensation on her hand.

"It was wonderful having dinner with you Hermione Granger, and I hope we can get together again soon."

"Tonight was wonderful, Ian. It would be my pleasure to go out with you again," she answered in a polite manner, feeling giddy at that moment.

Seeing as it wasn't their first time, Ian took advantage of the way she looked adorable, and leaned in for a goodnight kiss, his hand on the small of her back. Hermione smiled into it, glad that he was a wonderful kisser.

They broke apart and Ian asked, "Hermione, would you be my girlfriend? I want to go out on an endless number of dates with you. I want to be able to see your smile as often as possible."

"Yes," she replied without hesitation. It was the right thing to do, wasn't it? "When will we go out again?"

"How about I mull it over, and I let you know as soon as possible?"

"Perfect."

With another kiss goodnight, he apparated away, only after making sure she was safely inside.

And even though she had just gone out with one of the most romantic and sweetest men ever, Hermione still could not shake that image of Draco standing helpless in front of her. Even after those scary but wonderful butterflies had graced her stomach, she still thought about him. And she had no idea why.

All Hermione knew was that she didn't want to be alone that night.

Putting quill to parchment, she wrote out a note to Harry and sent it out into the night sky before going into her room. She took off the dress and slipped on a comfortable pair of pajama pants and a fitting white shirt, not caring that the black bra she put on before was showing through the fabric.

As she was tying her hair up in a loose ponytail, Harry walked slowly into the bedroom. He made sure she wasn't in all her glory.

Without speaking to her, he walked up to her and gave her a tight hug, but not one tight enough to squeeze the life out of her.

"Hermione, is something wrong?" he asked when he let go.

"Not really," she replied, not meaning to tell a white lie. She sat down on the edge of the bed, Harry following her.

"I know something's up, so just tell me before I tickle it out of you." He sure did know how to charm a woman into something…

"Trust me, I had a wonderful time with Ian, so don't worry about that."

"Then what is bothering you?"

"Draco…" she replied solemnly, but almost in a whisper.

"Malfoy? What did he do?" Harry's face suddenly dropped, fearing for his newfound friend. He didn't want to resort to beating the pulp out of him.

"Nothing Harry, calm down. I just… it's that… I can't stop thinking about him. I'm starting to think that these stupid and random thoughts will never go away."

"It's still a bit soon, but just give it time and Malfoy will be no more."

"But what if I don't want that, Harry? What if I just can't make up my mind?"

"I wish I could help you, Mya, but it's not an easy answer. I felt that way about Ginny for the longest time, but everyone has their own way of healing."

Hermione waited a second before asking her next question. "Harry, do you still love her? At least think about her?"

"I love Ginny with all my heart. But now it's more of a sister love like I have for you. But sometimes I still wonder if I hadn't let my pride get in the way, if we would still be together all this time. And don't get me wrong, but it's not a sad thought. I'm happy that she's found someone stable and that she's found happiness. As long as she's happy, then so am I."

The brown-eyed beauty let it all sink in. Hopefully she could get at that point one day, and let her love for Draco simmer into something she could handle. But for now, she wanted to test things out with Ian.

"Harry?"

"Hmm."

"Stay with me tonight, please?"

"Anything for you, princess." He loved calling her that, and Hermione loved hearing it.

Ready to get some rest, she scooted herself backwards until her back touched the pillows. Harry reacted in the same manner, and then they proceeded to cover themselves with the duvet.

Nowhere in their minds, did they think that their actions were inappropriate. To them, it was a friend comforting another. They were close enough that Harry had his arm around her, and she had her head lying in the crook of his arm.

"I love you, Hermione." It wasn't very often that they said it to each other being so serious, but he needed to let her know.

"I love you, too, Harry. I always will."

"You're my best friend Hermione, and I will protect you the best I can, even though you'll always be strong enough."

"It's alright; I need a knight to guard me sometimes."

"Good night, princess."

"Sweet dreams, my knight."


	10. A Family Reunion

**A/N:** Hello everybody! Here is another chapter for your reading pleasures. I have come to realize how much I truly love writing this story, and I think I'm already half way done on chapter eleven! Go me!

Anyway, I've got this 'story' up and going and I think everybody should check it out. It's really just a collection of drabbles that I've been working on, so it's not really a story. But I update it as much as possible. It's called _Conversations of a Broken Heart_.

And I want to say thank you to my wonderful beta **mskiti**. Without her, my story would be a jumbled mess. The beginning of this chapter was a complete disaster, in my opinion, and she helped me out so much! Thank you Tabi!

Now, go read! Please?

"Cause tension causes friction and this friction leads to sparks."  
Release Me by Mae

**Chapter Ten  
A Family Reunion**

It had been almost a month since Hermione had gone out on her official 'first date' with Ian, and since then they had been on a handful of dates. Each time they went out Hermione would find out more about him and her feelings would grow stronger. She had even taken him along on her monthly Sunday get-together with friends. Hermione wasn't surprised at all when everyone seemed to like him. She was especially grateful that Harry liked him.

Ian took her out for dinner as often as he could. Hermione finally stopped making a fuss every time he paid for everything, not only dinners but he seemed very insistent on buying her gifts once in awhile.

Her office at work was filled with flowers, the gift he loved giving her the most. He sent them almost everyday and it had gotten to the point where she couldn't cram any more into her personal office, and the nurses didn't mind at all that she put some on display on their counter. It seemed to make Sector Seven a touch more uplifting than normal.

Even though she kept on thinking about how amazing Ian was, she somehow always ended up thinking about Draco standing in front of her apartment. That look just seemed to tear her down every time. She tried her hardest to usher those thoughts out of her head. Monday was an important day at work, and she would not let anything mess it up.

Other than her mind wandering onto Draco, there was all the paperwork that had to be done, not to mention she still had to give Ana her final training, oh and lets not forget the report she still had to give to Madame Derwent about the first month's 'testing' results, most of her day had gone quite well. Even though her floor was considerable busy with the overwhelming number of patients, she always reminded herself, 'Life never takes a day off'.

After the busy day she had just had she decided she really liked the idea that her boss had come up with. Having all the sectors interconnected and helping each other out was turning out to be a great asset to the company. Quick responses were becoming more frequent and tasks were getting completed faster. Even if helping an injured person wasn't always their current worry, they helped out with other things.

With the end of her shift quickly approaching she was filling out some last minute forms at the nurses' station. She was about to grab the rest of her things and head for Madame Derwent's office when the lady from the check in desk practically came running up to her.

"Miss Granger!" she yelled a little louder than she should have. A lot of familiar faces started turning towards her. "I have a letter for you. I was told to deliver it straight to you." The lady was all but pleased at having to hand-deliver letters to her.

"Thank you," Hermione responded, taking the envelope in her hand.

She flipped it over to see her name written in an all but too familiar scrawl that she knew was Ron's. Fidgeting with the flap, she opened it and pulled out the parchment from inside, reading it to herself.

_March 13, 2006_

_Hermione,_

_I know that your shift at work is almost over, but I had to get this letter to you as soon as possible, for the fear of Mother's wrath is high. Sorry, but knowing me, I would have waited until you returned home._

_Everyone hopes that you will come, but seeing as this is last minute I wouldn't blame you at all if you decided not to show up. But Mother is having a sort of dinner party tonight at the Burrow. She's been slaving all day over it. Bill and Fleur arrived last night with the new baby and they want everyone over to fawn over how pretty she is. Ginny and Blaise also want to talk to the family about something, who knows?_

_Mother is also forcing me to beg you to bring Ian along. She says that she has heard so much about this bloke, but she still hasn't offered her approval._

_You don't need to reply, just apparate on over at 6:30, all right?_

_See you soon,  
Ron._

Hermione couldn't help but giggle slightly at her best friend's antics. Obviously he knew that Hermione wouldn't refuse if he would just mention Mrs. Weasley more than once.

She took a peek at the clock on the wall to make sure she wouldn't skip out on her meeting with the boss, and then turned to write a quick letter to Ian. She hoped more than anything he wouldn't be busy tonight and could be her date to dinner at The Burrow. The Weasley's were like family to her and it meant a lot to her if Ian would get to know them.

After she sent the letter off, she picked her things up and out of Susan's way, and left to meet up with Madam Der—_Kim_… She kept on forgetting that her boss hated to be so formal, but Hermione just wasn't used to it.

The door to her office was open, so she snuck a peek in before walking in and taking a seat.

"Hello Hermione dear," Kim greeted with an overly sized smile. Yes, she was usually a happy witch, but never _that_ ecstatic.

"Hi Kim," she answered back, not wanting to be rude.

Hermione pulled all of her papers out of the folder she had been carrying them in and set them on the desk so that Kim could read it.

"All the forms are complete and the reports are signed by all four of us," Hermione said, meaning the Head Healers in all four sectors.

"Thank you," her boss replied, not even bothering to look at the papers in front of her. "I assume everything has been working out well with the arrangements?"

"Yes, very well. I think it would be a rather good idea to have it applied to the hospital as a whole. There's a sheet near the back of that stack where I did some figuring, and it's safe to assume that our numbers would greatly improve if we were to go through with it."

"As a matter of fact," stated Kim, "I have talked to some of the wizards in the board, and they're working on having it set up. We were all waiting on the final reports of the project."

Hermione's face lit up knowing that all the hard work she had done really helped out the hospital. At that moment, she realized that she would be lost if she had any other job.

"You've done fantastic, Hermione. I really am proud of your hard work."

"Thank you, _Kim_." She stressed her name, trying hard to remember to not be so formal.

"Now that this hectic work load is done, I have a proposition for you." Hermione was about to say something, but Kim didn't give her any time. "I know that you have been working hard your entire life, especially since you've been working here. All these years, I've been watching all my top employees very carefully."

Hermione nodded, knowing that she would never be able to get a word in until she was done.

"As every wizard and witch knows, St. Mungo's has been in my family since it was founded by an ancient relative of mine, and even some other relatives have been Healers here. But since I have no children to pass the company to, I've been seeking others.

"I'm not ready to do it now, but I want them to be prepared so I'm offering the position of Co-President to a lucky somebody."

Hermione didn't know how to interpret Kim's words at that moment, so when Kim paused, she was still speechless.

"I want to pass the company to you Hermione." She paused, waiting for her favorite employee to react. When Hermione didn't say anything, except leaving her mouth wide open, she continued.

"You don't need to give me your answer right away, we still have time. I just need you to do me one last favor before you make your mind up." Hermione nodded. "Danicus Lender, one of our biggest contributors, wants to host a gala for St. Mungo's in order to receive donations to help with some reconstructing of the children's ward on the first floor.

"The board is more than pleased, seeing as the hospital hasn't hosted anything in quite a few years. The problem is that none of them care to plan that blasted thing," Kim stated, smiling at Hermione. "That's where you come in, dear. I know how intricate you are in your details and how you love helping the place out. Please say you'll do this for me?"

There was so much information that had been given to her in the past five minutes that for the first time, she felt as though her mind was in overdrive. She wasn't too sure about being owner one day of St. Mungo's, but that she had time to mull over. But the gala… She wanted nothing more than to help the poor children in need.

She had been down there on a few occasions, and it definitely needed some brightening up.

"Of course. I'd be more than happy to plan out the gala. What were you thinking of doing with it?"

Kim pulled out a folder from a drawer in her desk and handed it to the brunette in front of her.

"I have talked to Danicus about it, and here is all the information on it. Personally, I have nothing to do with the planning of it, so if you need anything, he has supplied his information in case we need to get a hold of him."

"Thank you so much, Ma'am. I'll get on it as soon as possible." She stood up to leave, but the red head said something else.

"Have Ana help you with it. If she keeps up with the great work she's been doing, hopefully we can get her high up within the company as well."

"Very well." Hermione was just ready to leave and let everything sink in.

"Good bye Hermione."

She shut the office door behind her before heading up to her office. When she arrived, there was a letter on top of her desk with a small lavender daisy attached to it. Immediately she knew it was Ian's response because he was the only one who loved to send her favorite flower.

Hermione was so excited that he would be going with her that night, so she grabbed all of her belongings and bid everyone a good night. Before she reached the stairwell, she caught a glimpse of platinum blonde hair.

**XXX**

It was almost 6:15 according to the clock that hung in her bedroom and Hermione was almost ready to faint from hunger. She had conveniently skipped lunch that day at work to finish filling some forms out, and now she was paying for it.

She had just slipped on her favorite shirt that said 'long live the queen' and the olive green color went perfect with her favorite white-washed jeans. Knowing the Weasley's, no one would be overly dressed up and she was used to dressing comfortably around them.

There was a knock at the door, and before rushing to answer it, Hermione took one last quick look in her bathroom mirror.

"You look bloody sexy," Ian greeted when she opened the door. He wasn't empty-handed, though, holding a small bouquet of the same lavender daises she loved so much.

The smart witch still wasn't used to his forward comments, so she blushed slightly before answering him.

"Thanks, handsome."

Walking into the kitchen to put the flowers in yet another transfigured vase, she wondered when he would stop giving her flowers. Her senses were overloaded with the scent of them, that she thought the smell of them would never leave her apartment.

"So do you think the Weasley's will like me?" Ian asked, grabbing her by the waist and pulling her small frame closer to his body.

"If Ron likes you already, then you're definitely set. He's the one with the hardest head out of them all." She wrapped her arms around his neck, knowing it would take a few minutes before he finally kissed her.

"Wonderful."

Ian buried his face in the nape of her neck, loving how amazing she smelled after a shower. Not wanting to wait any longer, he started kissing her in the exact spot he knew would make her giggle before giving in.

He moved his lips so that they were expertly placed right under her earlobe, another spot he knew would make her melt in his arms. And that's exactly what she did after letting out a soft moan.

Hermione loved the way he left chaste kissed all over her, especially since his lips were so soft that the feel of them lingered even after they broke apart from her skin.

After hearing another moan escape, Ian wrapped his arms around his favorite person, holding her now even closer. Not even a second later, his lips—those wonderful lips—met Hermione's and their kiss instantly emitted sparks. Soon enough her fingers were running through his wonderfully dark hair.

She was about to deepen the kiss even farther, when suddenly her stomach let out a huge rumble, that even Ian heard it.

"Hungry?" he asked after they grudgingly broke apart.

She nodded and then added, "I missed lunch."

"Maybe we should head out then, huh?"

"Yeah. Harry and Ron would kill me if I showed up late on account of a snog." She had slowly grown accustomed to not blushing, so instead she winked. "We can continue this later."

Before apparating away, she gave him a last kiss.

When they opened their eyes, they were standing in front of The Burrow, Hermione's home away from home.

"So this is it then?" Ian asked, taking a hold of her hand in his and interlacing their fingers.

"It's not as if you're meeting my parents!" she joked as she lightly slapped him on the shoulder.

Without even knocking on the front door, Hermione turned the doorknob and walked right on in with Ian right behind her.

"Mrs. Weasley!" she shouted while walking towards the kitchen. "Ron! I'm here!"

Before she was halfway through the living room, Lavender came out of the loo on the left, wobbling along as if she were already nine months along.

"They're all out back," the blonde replied before wrapping Hermione in a large hug. "I'm so happy you came. It feels like I haven't seen you in ages."

"I know, I'm sorry. Work has been hectic." She felt Ian tug on her hand. "Oh goodness, I'm sorry. Lavender, this is Ian, my boyfriend. Ian this is Lavender, Ron's wife."

"Pleasure to meet you, Mrs. Weasley," Ian greeted, bringing Lavender's hand up so he could place a kiss atop it.

"Nice to meet you as well, Ian." Hermione knew that Lavender was gushing on the inside, and she would want to gossip about it all later. The pregnant witch just winked at Hermione before leading them towards the kitchen so they could meet everyone out back.

The second she had noticed how many people were there she was definitely glad she had decided to go. Everyone in the Weasley family plus their wives and children were there, including Harry and Ana.

They all greeted her as Mrs. Weasley—the poor woman, having to deal with all the men—walked up to her and threw her arms around her.

"Hermione, dear, I'm so glad you came! And this must be Ian everyone's heard about."

"Yes," she replied smiling. "Ian, this is Mrs. Weasley, my second mother."

"You know what I always say dear, I can never have too many children to take care of," she said as she blushed. And it wasn't because of Hermione's comment, but because Ian had kissed her hand in greeting as well.

"It's nice to meet you Mrs. Weasley. Thank you for inviting me to dinner."

"Oh, it's not a problem dear. And please, call me Molly!"

"Of course, Molly."

Everyone then came up to the couple as they greeted Hermione and were introduced to Ian. He had already known Harry, Ron, Ginny, Blaise, and Ana from the time he went out with them on their monthly dinner. Besides just having met Lavender and Molly, he was introduced to the rest of the Weasley men, including Percy, and as well as Katie Bell, Angelina Johnson, Fleur and their new baby Danielle, Bill and Fleur's son Demetrius, Penelope Clearwater, and Victoria Hooper, Charlie's new wife.

Ian was so overwhelmed by all the new acquaintances, and Hermione had noticed it by the look on his face as they sat down in the middle of the magically elongated picnic table.

Everyone else sat around them, and Hermione knew that she couldn't have been happier than how she felt at that moment.

Mrs. Weasley started putting all the food out onto the table using her wand, when Charlie had broken the silence.

"Hermione, are you still working at St. Mungo's?" It was the first time that most of them had seen her that year, seeing as how she had been working in Florida over the New Year.

She didn't want to break the news of being offered the position of Co-President just yet, so she just said, "yes, I am. I was just given word today that St. Mungo's is going to have a gala soon with one of our contributors hosting it. Madame Derwent has asked me to plan it out."

"Well, congratulations." Everyone started saying how glad they were for her, and she couldn't help but blush at that moment.

The dinner went smoothly with everyone talking about their lives. The whole time, Hermione was beaming from the inside knowing that Ian was happy about being there, always getting into the conversations as well. Everyone seemed to like him, and she couldn't have been more pleased with their reaction towards him.

She knew nothing could be better.

**XXX**

Everyone had just finished the dessert that Mrs. Weasley had graciously made more than enough of, when Ginny and Blaise stood up, clearing their throats.

"Sorry, everyone," Blaise began. "We just have an announcement to make."

Hermione looked straight into Ginny's eyes, wondering what it could possibly be that she hadn't even told _her_, the girl's best friend.

"We've decided on a date for the wedding," the redhead said, averting from looking at Hermione. "We're going to get married June seventeenth, that way all the kids will be back from Hogwarts."

Everyone started chattering, especially Mrs. Weasley whispering _'about time'_ into Hermione's ear.

"And…" Blaise said, getting everyone's attention again. He looked at Ginny, ushering her to go on.

"We went to visit a healer yesterday and we found out the baby's due July twentieth."

"Come on, give us the news we all want to hear!" Fred exclaimed.

"Is it going to be a girl or boy?" George finished for his twin.

Ginny and Blaise turned to one another beaming, keeping the tension going on longer than anyone anticipated.

"It's a boy," Blaise announced, receiving yells of joy and exclamations of 'yes!' from all the Weasley men, including Arthur.

Everyone gave their turn in congratulating the couple, but Hermione stayed back for a bit. She wanted to talk to Ginny for a bit, and it would be longer than just a few words. The redhead finally walked over to where her best friend was. Ian was talking to the twins animatedly about ideas for the store, so she was alone.

"Sorry I didn't tell you earlier," Ginny said when she approached Hermione.

"It's alright. Congratulations by the way, even though I already knew you'd be due around then anyway." The girls embraced quickly because Hermione was scared of hurting her.

"Mya, I want you to be my maid-of-honor. There's no one else I want there more with me than you."

"It would be my honor! There's no one else I'd rather plan a wedding with."

After struggling a bit, both Gryffindor girls sat there on the hill, watching the slow setting sun in peace. They could hear the chattering of their family in the background, but it didn't bother them. More than anything, it gave them a sense of pride and comfort.

"Ginny, I'm going to tell you something, but you have to promise you won't repeat it to anyone. I can't have this spreading around." Hermione was more than willing on sharing her 'secret' with Ginny, but the girl did have a big mouth sometimes.

"Of course, I promise."

"Madame Derwent offered me to be Co-President of St. Mungo's, today."

Ginny instantly straightened up when she heard that. "Are you serious?" she asked even though she believed her. "Hermione, this is great!"

"I know, but I'm just terrified of doing it. I don't know if I could handle being in charge of a whole entire hospital. Sometimes I can barely keep my own sector in control."

Ginny shook her head and laughed a little. There were times when she could barely believe she was talking to Hermione Granger, the smartest witch anyone knew.

"Mya, you're intelligent and you have an amazing head on your shoulders. If anyone is fit to run the hospital, it's you! Plus, you won't have to run it all by yourself, you'll just be Co-President."

Hermione paused, wondering if she should tell her the other half.

"Ginny… Kim wants me to be the owner one day. Soon it _will_ be just me."

"Wow," the younger one exclaimed, feeling just as shocked as Hermione did when she was told the news. "But you'll be great at it. And when you finally become owner, you can have someone there to help you. Of course you'll never be alone at it."

"You're right, Ginny. I think I just might take her up on the offer."

"I'm proud of you, Hermione." Ginny then playfully nudged Hermione with her shoulder and said, "see what happens when you stop sulking and actually live your life?"

And Ginny was right. She was absolutely and certainly right.

Except that Hermione couldn't stop herself from thinking about Draco's reaction.

**XXX**

The reunion at The Burrow had finally come to an end and Hermione had just apparated Ian and herself back to her apartment. She didn't want to let him go just yet.

He sat down on her couch while she went to go grab them both a bottle of wine and two glasses. She poured them both some as she started explaining everything to him that she had just told Ginny. Ian almost choked on some wine when she mentioned that she would become owner of St. Mungo's later on.

He was more than happy for her and expressed it in quite a vivid way.

Grabbing the glass from out of her hand, Ian set both glasses down on the coffee table. He gently grabbed her by the waist, pulling her in for a kiss, mumbling, "my little witch," right before their lips crashed together.

Their kisses slowly became heavier and Hermione was starting to have some difficulties breathing when he finally pulled her on top of him so that she was straddling his lap.

The excitement in her stomach was nothing new as he began to slip her shirt off, leaving it forgotten on the rug beneath their feet. She felt Ian's wonderfully soft lips right underneath her collarbone. Nothing else mattered in that moment other than the both of them.

Hermione loved being on top, giving her a feel of control and dominance, so there was no way she would let Ian take that role, especially their first time doing anything so… so sexual.

As she felt her blood rising in her veins, Hermione began to unbutton his long sleeved shirt while she kissed the skin that appeared before her. His skin was so soft and it had aroused her to no extent, that she began rubbing herself into his hardened lower area.

Hermione knew that her attempts at being in control were working when she heard a low grunt escape his mouth as she threw his shirt on the ground next hers. She lifted her body off of Ian's for a moment so she could remove his pants. She felt him shake slightly under her touch when she had undone the button and zipper on his jeans.

Not being able to contain himself any longer, Ian lifted Hermione into his arms carrying her into her bedroom, lying down on the bed, placing her back on top of him. He wanted her more than ever, and she saw the amount of lust in his eyes and she continued to relieve him of his clothing.

Feeling no need to be shy at the moment, Hermione proceeded to undress herself as well, and then went back to the man in front of her.

"You're beautiful," he mentioned huskily.

She leaned down on his chest so her face was directly above his, and replied, "same to you, love," before kissing him fervently again.

All the passion that she had wanted back into her life, returned, but this time directed to the man she was starting to fall in love with; the man that was in front of her, kissing her back, touching her lightly and actually wanting her.

Nothing more turned her on as much as that did.

…

Don't forget to review! Pretty please.


	11. Weeks of Planning

**A/N:** Yes, right on time yet again! A lot of thanks go to **mskiti**, my beta for her amazing observation skills. For those who were sad about the lack of Draco interaction, there is a short scene of him in here. Although it's probably not what everyone has expected, it will have to do for now. But I promise, Draco and Hermione scenes are coming soon!!

**Chapter Eleven  
Weeks of Planning**

Hermione had an entire gala to plan within two months, and a wedding to help prepare. She was more than satisfied with her busy schedule, but was glad she didn't have to do it all alone. Ana was supposed to help her plan out the gala for St. Mungo's and then Ginny was the main planner for her wedding. Hermione was the maid-of-honor, just there to help.

More than a week had gone by since the 'Weasley Reunion' as everyone liked to call it, and it was now Sunday, the third Sunday of March. Hermione, Ginny, and Ana were meeting everyone else at their favorite Italian restaurant in Muggle London. The three girls, however, had arrived about half an hour early to discuss a few plans.

"Where were you thinking about hosting the gala?" Ana asked, taking a sip of her wine.

"We have a meeting with the hotel manager at The Waldorf Hilton later tonight. I received an owl from him this morning saying he would be pleased to show us around," Hermione replied. They had agreed on the twelfth of May for the gala which was till two months away, but Hermione was already on top of everything.

"How are you going to get there? Isn't that a muggle hotel?" Ginny asked. Blaise had already decided that he wanted to attend, so he would be going with Ginny and their baby. He had said he wanted nothing more than to see the love of his life in a beautiful gown, even if she was pregnant.

"That's the thing…..Even though they quite often have muggles staying there it has never been a muggle hotel. I was doing some research on it and found out it was actually affiliated with the Wizarding community and actually run by wizards." She was so excited about all of it that she could barely sit still in her seat.

"So are we just going to apparate over?" Ana asked, knowing that she too was excited about planning the gala. Before starting her training at St. Mungo's with Hermione, her life had been anything but exciting. Now, she was a great Healer, having her training done last week, dating the famous Harry Potter—even though she liked him more for his personality than his popularity, and had more friends than she could have imagined. And planning a gala was definitely on the top of her list.

"Yeah," Hermione responded, trying her hardest to keep from drinking more wine. "We'll just head on over after dinner is over with."

"Alright, well that leaves one thing we've got done: the location. What are we going to do about tickets, or admission?"

"That, my friend, is the one thing I've been stressing about over this past week. I've never attended something so… fancy. I have no idea how to go about it." She wasn't about to beg, but she had to plead, she had no other way. "Please, ladies, help me!"

Ginny was rubbing her chin, seriously thinking how she could help. Even though it wasn't official that she was on the 'committee', she would do anything to help.

"Obviously you're going to want famous witches and wizards to attend, ones that have influence. You want as much help as you can get in order to raise enough money for the children. Maybe you should make a list of important people and others who would be essential. Make invitations and send them out." Ginny herself had never been to a gala or any fancy parties, but she had heard enough about them while growing up to know a few things about them.

"But how would that get us any money, Ginny?" the blonde of the three asked.

"Well, maybe you should charge an amount for each ticket, not a low price so that anybody plus their mum could attend, but nothing too high as to turn people away. Even though you're making a list of the important people, you could publicly sell tickets for others who want to attend, with a limit of course."

"Ginny, that's a great idea," Hermione exclaimed. "So now we just have to decide how much to charge for the tickets…"

They all sat for a few minutes, contemplating a good price to pay for entrance to their party.

"How about charging forty-two galleons a ticket?" Ana suggested.

"Why forty-two and not just forty?" Ginny asked, confused.

"Because Ginny," Hermione began to answer for her friend. "Forty-two makes it seem a bit more… higher. It's hard to explain, but it's just a bit more than forty making it seem that the guests are paying good money. And if we sell enough tickets, those two extra galleons will make all the difference."

"Oh," she answered, only understanding half of her explanation.

"Well, let's talk about something else. I think we have enough sorted out for now." Hermione suggested. When no one said anything, she kept on talking. "Ginny, what about the wedding, do you have anything in mind?"

"Not entirely, I don't want to pick out a dress right now; I think it's too soon. But Mum is so wrapped up in all of it, that she doesn't realize we still have three months. She wants to keep pestering me about it, that I can barely even send her an owl." She sighed. Ginny had no idea how she was going to plan her own wedding.

"How about next weekend, all three of us go looking around at some flowers. That's the best part, plus it will give you some ideas." Ana seemed to be the most level-headed one in their group of friends and she took everything one step at a time.

"Thank you, Ana. I'd appreciate that."

Before they could mention anything else about the wedding, Harry along with Ron and Lavender walked into the restaurant. Lavender was finally able to go along that month. Last month she had been stricken with some terrible morning sickness all day.

Five minutes later Ian showed up, followed by Blaise just a few more minutes after that. All eight of them drank wine, ate amazing Italian food, and had many laughs. Mostly at the expense of Harry and Ron. Their waiter had just finished clearing off their table, when Ron sank down in the booth even farther.

"I'm so full!" he exclaimed, not caring they were in a fancy restaurant.

"Ronald," his wife scolded, terribly embarrassed. "Get up! You can't possibly be full; you never eat enough food to get to that point!"

Everyone started cracking up at another joke towards their red-headed friend.

"So how are the plans coming along for the gala?" Blaise asked, anxious to take Ginny.

"Very well so far, considering we still have almost nine weeks until the date of the gala," Hermione responded.

"Are we going to have to pay to get in, seeing as we work for St. Mungo's?" Ana asked, worrying for her bank account.

"I actually haven't thought about that yet…"

"Personally, I think you shouldn't have to pay!" Ron pointed out, but not without receiving a smack in the back of the head from his dear wife.

"You always think that no one, especially you, should have to pay for anything," she exclaimed after seeing his look of fake hurt.

"I was just saying that since they _are_ organizing the whole event, it would be wrong to have them cough up money after all the hard work." He turned towards Lavender and conjured up the most sugary and sweet smile he could.

"All right…" she dismissed with a wave of her hand.

"As a matter of fact," Ana interjected, "I think Ron may have a good point. Of course it wouldn't be a smart idea to have _all_ St. Mungo's employees attend for free, so we should put a limit on it. Like… have only Head Healers and Department Officials get free tickets. Although, we could have all other healers pay only half."

"I think that's a fabulous idea, Ana." Hermione was more than excited knowing that they were starting to get the ball rolling for the gala.

"So," Blaise began. "Do you think you pretty ladies could get us all some free tickets, just because you love us?"

"Sorry Blaise, but you're going to have to pay full price."

"Ha, and everyone thought _I_ wanted to take advantage of Hermione," Ron exclaimed on his own behalf.

Harry started laughing, clutching his side and everyone at the table just stared at him.

"What?" he asked, after the sound of his laughter died down. "Ron's always used Hermione, and anyone else he could convince. I just thought it was funny."

"Maybe we should start getting back home. I have to get up early tomorrow," Ron said with Lavender agreeing right behind him.

"I should get going as well," Harry told everyone as he scooted his way out of the booth. "Meet me later at my place?" he asked Ana.

"Yeah, I'll see you soon," she answered, receiving a long kiss goodbye before he left.

Blaise and Ginny soon followed, complaining that Ginny was starting to get a bit sick.

Ian left, only after receiving a good enough kiss from Hermione. It was so passionate, that it left butterflies even after he walked out.

"You two are getting pretty serious, aren't you?" Ana asked while grabbing her purse so they could leave.

Hermione didn't answer until both of them were in the ladies restroom, crammed into a stall.

"He's wonderful, Ana. I don't want to take things too fast, but I really do like him."

Without waiting for an answer, she apparated the both of them into the grand entrance to the hotel they were hoping to hold the gala at. It was a well known hotel in London and it would be spectacular and add a bigger feel to their planned night if they could snatch this deal.

They were right on time for their meeting, so before they started walking towards the front desk, the manager approached them.

"Hello, ladies," he greeted, shaking both of their hands. "I'm Nicolas, but you may call me Nick."

"Hello, Nick. I'm Hermione, the one who contacted you."

"Ah, yes, Miss Granger. I'm very pleased to have you interested in my hotel." He then turned to Ana. "And you must be Miss Shepard. It's a pleasure to meet you both."

"Likewise," Ana replied, blushing slightly. No one would have guessed he was the owner and manager of the hotel. He couldn't have been any older than about thirty, and he had strikingly beautiful blue eyes.

"Now I understand you are planning a gala for St. Mungo's, correct?" Both girls nodded. "Very well, let me show you the dining area that would be perfect to hold the event."

He led both of them off to the right.

"This is the Palm Court. We would transform the area to accommodate exactly what it is you are looking for, keeping the bar area if you wish. And there would be no need to hire anyone to serve that night; I would have my staff here help you."

"That would be wonderful, Nick. How many people would we have room for in here?"

"Normally, we could have a maximum of 150 guests, but it would be no problem to magically enhance it to fit about 300 guests." They had never discussed specifics before, because Hermione had yet to figure out how many people would be invited.

"This is absolutely gorgeous. What do you think, Ana?"

She was speechless and all she could do was nod.

Indeed, it was very extravagant and the Edwardian style really made the room exquisite. It had a high ceiling with intricate details everywhere, having a grand feel of elegance. In between all the arched pillars were lights that glowed all the way up to wall giving it a romantic feel if the lights had been turned down.

The dance floor—which was currently filled with round tables—was a few steps lower from where they were standing near the entrance and the current level on which they were standing went all the way around the room. There was a railing surrounding the top level that was made of cast-iron with wonderful silver decorations on it.

The bar Nick had mentioned earlier was off to their right with the most gorgeous granite countertop. There were bar seats all around it, but Hermione was sure to have them out for the gala.

It was absolutely perfect, and Hermione was completely satisfied with the Waldorf. At that point, she couldn't have imagined having the gala anywhere else.

"Nick, this is amazing. I'd be privileged if we could have our gala here."

"Wonderful! How about we go to my office and discuss a few things."

**XXX**

Meanwhile, somewhere on the other side of town, a certain blonde man sat alone.

The sun almost finished setting on the horizon, letting the rays shine brightly as they fought to stay in the sky to bounce off the trees. For the most part, the park had been empty except for a few joggers traveling down the dirt path.

Oh, and of course there was one body sitting on an iced bench. But he didn't mind that the wood was cold because his long cloak kept his back from touching it.

Draco's mind had been preoccupied all day, so the better side of him convinced his body to take a walk, to find a way to sort through his thoughts. The only problem was that he didn't want to sort through anything.

He preferred to keep everything a mess, not wanting to have any specific thought to concentrate on. This was because all of the floating images and ideas in his mind were concerning a woman by the name of Hermione. The one girl he could never stop from entering his thoughts every single day.

By February he had finally realized that after he let go of the raging fire in his heart, he really wanted to forgive Hermione. He was the one who felt sorry; he shouldn't have ignored her the way he did. He just really wanted to figure out what to do.

But by the time he was ready, Hermione had moved on.

He never wanted to for them to be apart and eventually end up with other people. All he wanted was just some time.

Trying to keep his hands warm, he stuck them into the pockets of the sweater he had underneath his cloak. He was shocked to feel the velvet exterior of a box. He had forgotten that he had been pacing in his flat earlier that morning, opening and closing that damned box.

Draco had let his pride get in the way and ignored her pleas for forgiveness. He knew that she had wanted nothing more than to be back within his arms and not to turn around and forget everything. And that was exactly what he wanted as well.

When he found her with _Ian_ that Friday night, she had asked him to let her be happy. And truly, he did want her to find happiness, but with _him_. Contrary to popular belief he wasn't all that selfish. So he granted her wish and left her alone.

Now all he wanted to know was how long it would take for Hermione to be his again.

**XXX**

It had been almost a week since Ana and Hermione went to visit the Waldorf. Over the past week, they had gone over as many details as they possibly could while still working in Sector Seven. Kim had been ecstatic when they had reported to her some of the details on Friday.

Now it was Saturday and Hermione was over at Ian's house for the first time. He had invited her over so that he could cook dinner for her, to show off his amazing culinary skills. He would not let Hermione into the kitchen whatsoever, as he finished preparing the meal.

She was relaxing a bit, deepening herself into the plush cushions of his couch. There was nothing better than his couch.

After a few minutes of relaxing and Ian still not showing up, Hermione pulled out a list from her purse and scanned over it. This particular list was the one she had been stressing over, the list for the gala. Her eyes began to read it slowly, making sure everything was correct.

_St. Mungo's Children's Gala_

_Location: The Palm Court at the Waldorf Hilton_

_Date: Twelfth of May 2006, 8:00PM_

_Price per Ticket: 42 Galleons_

_Number of guests on 'The List': 126 excluding persons from St. Mungo's_

_Security: Only authentic tickets belonging to the purchaser will allow them to pass magical barrier at the entrance to the Palm Court. Several Aurors will be at the entrance as well as the bar, in case they are needed._

_Attire: This will be a black-tie affair, so dress robes for the gentlemen and long-length dresses for the women._

Hermione never finished glancing through the page seeing as Ian had come up and snatched it away from her. Knowing that she would say something in retaliation, he instantly met her lips with his own, hoping that she would forget whatever it was she had been about to say.

"It'll all work out, love. I promise," he said, sitting down next to her on his magnificent couch.

"I know. But I'm Hermione Granger, the biggest worrier of all worriers. It's practically my job to fret over every detail."

She started to run her fingers through his hair. It was the one thing she could never stop doing and she constantly found her hand there, never realizing that she had started messing with him.

"Well, I hope you don't pick out every detail of our dinner tonight, because that would just break my heart," he mentioned, starting to put on that fake puppy dog face. It never worked on Hermione, but he sure loved to try.

"Ian, you know I won't do that. Is dinner ready?" She was hungry and if she didn't get food in her stomach that instant, she would not hesitate to growl at him.

He stood up, and put his hand out for her to take. "My lady," he said in a fake 'high class' accent. "Dinner awaits you."

_What a sap,_ Hermione thought. But she had to admit that she loved it nonetheless.

Ian had fixed up some of the most amazing herb and garlic chicken Hermione had ever had the chance of eating. There was also some amazing penne pasta with some spices, wonderful homemade garlic bread, and of course only the finest wine.

She couldn't help but love the way he had always remembered the small things she had mentioned to him. Like the way she was very picky about her meat and would have chicken over pork any day of the year. And she loved how he took it in his own hands to remind her that he'd never forget her favorite flower, or that she secretly liked the color pink.

It felt nice to have someone know about all of her inner workings and about the little things in her life. To Hermione, if felt like someone actually listened to her and took the time to make her feel noticed.

After dinner had been over with and Ian insisted on cleaning the dishes without magic just to prove that he could, they both retreated back into his living room. Even though spring was inching up on everyone, it was still chilly outside. So when Hermione started shivering a bit, Ian was more than a gentleman to light up the fireplace.

She wanted to be as close to the heat as possible, so being the little tease that Ian liked to think she was, Hermione sat right in front of the fire, leaving him behind. She wrapped her arms around her legs that were pulled up to her chest, and left her back facing him.

But no… there was no way he was going to let that one slide. So he went after her, sitting right next to her and placed his arm around her shoulders.

"I've always loved fire," she whispered more to herself than anyone else.

"Then you can just be my little pyromaniac." He was just joking of course but that didn't stop her from slapping him lightly.

"You know," she said, still looking straight at the growing fire. "I was rather good at making waterproof fires back at Hogwarts. I'd like to say it was one of my specialties."

"Really?" Ian asked while he started to place tiny kisses on the exposed skin of her neck. "What else were you good at?"

Trying her hardest to ignore his advances, she said, "I was also the only witch to get an award for going to the library at least once a week."

He laughed, hoping she wasn't being serious. "You're joking, right?" he asked when he realized that he had been the only one laughing.

"Yes, I'm joking." She finally turned her head so that she was looking at him. "I just wanted you to stop kissing me."

"Why? I love kissing you."

Hermione didn't know what to say, so she just grabbed the back of his head, and gently kissed him. Not wanting to give up those soft lips he loved so much, he kissed her again… and then again… and then once more, returning the passion.

When they stopped their loving pecks, Hermione looked deeply into Ian's glowing brown eyes. She couldn't tell if it was from the dancing flames of the fire, or if there was something deeper within them, but she still loved how they looked.

Ian reached up to touch her elegant face with his hand, rubbing her cheek softly with his thumb and never broke their eye contact. Hermione loved the feeling that his skin made when it touched with hers, so she closed her eyes, trying to live forever in that moment. All that mattered to her that night was the man next to her.

"Hermione?" he whispered, trying hard to not ruin the magic he felt.

"Hmm?" She didn't know if she could even speak at that instant, but there was no way she wanted to try and end up ruining it.

"Will you be my date to the gala?"

Her eyes instantly shot open at his question. Of course she wanted to go with him, but she had thought that it was a given and that he wouldn't have bothered.

"It's been two weeks and you're just now asking me?" Hermione meant no harm by her own question, she was just curious.

"I was never able to find the perfect moment, until now," he said, a slight smile on his lips.

"Aww… isn't that romantic?" She leaned over and gave him yet another kiss, making it deeper than their last ones.

"So, will you?" Ian asked again.

"Yes. I'd be honored to have you as my date," she replied, loving how his face instantly brightened.

Knowing that there was no more need for words, Ian pulled her in for even more kisses. He could never get enough.

They both felt like the heat from the fire just wasn't enough. Ian let himself fall backwards towards the floor, lying down on the rug with Hermione right on top of him and he loved how her body seemed to instantly warm him.

He instantly had the urge to have his bare skin touch hers, so Ian slipped his t-shirt off before quickly stripping Hermione's polo from her body. His eyes became fixated on the swell of her breasts where he watched the flames magically dance where they had been reflected. Ian placed hungry kisses there, trying to smother the flames. He loved how her breathing became extremely erratic as she tried to stifle a moan.

Hermione knew what he was aiming for, so she beat him to it and undid the clasps on her bra, leaving it forgotten on the floor as well.

"I love this," Ian whispered in between the kisses he was at that moment leaving on her.

"What? Laying here with me?"

"Yeah, laying here with you. It's perfect."

And even though she was caught up with someone else at that moment, she couldn't help but think of a memory that included Draco.

…

**PS. **42 galleons equals out to about $202.50 US dollars which in turn equals out to about 100 British pounds. That's the price for a single ticket to the gala.

So if they were to sell the maximum amount of tickets (300) at full price, the hospital would have raised a total of 12,600 galleons which equals $60,751.10 US dollars which equals 30,167.80 British pounds. That's a lot of money! At least to me.

Please review!


	12. Preparations

**Please Read! Important.**

**Author's Note:** I'm terribly sorry for the really long wait everyone! I was in Texas visiting my best from Wednesday through Sunday right after the last update. But then when I came home, my computer crashed on me when playing a game while I had some stupid unknown virus. So to make a long story short, I'm an idiot and never backed up anything on my computer and lost **everything**! Thousands of photos of my fiance and me, hundreds of songs from itunes store, and all my already posted chapters and even one-shots I had been working on. The good thing is that I finally learned my lesson.

On the bright side, I'm starting to work on a companion piece to 'They'll never Know' so keep on top of those author alerts!

**PS.** Check out my new forum for everything Draco & Hermione. There's a link on my author page. There's not a whole lot there now, but it can only get better by having more fans!

Now on with the show...

**Chapter Twelve  
Preparations**

Lavender started giggling out of nowhere.

Hermione looked over her mug of butterbeer to see what caused her little outburst.

"Alright there, Lavender?" she asked while wiping the foam away from her upper lip.

"I think the baby just kicked!" the blonde exclaimed rubbing her growing stomach.

Even though she had never gone through all of it, Hermione had seen many patients at the hospital who were pregnant and she could tell that her friend was a bit larger than normal for being five months along.

"Oh my goodness, the baby's doing it again!" she said, excited. "Come here Hermione. Feel it."

She reached over the table they were sitting at and set the palm of her hand on Lavender's stomach just in time to feel a sudden jolt. Her instant reaction was to pull away from the intensity, but then she reached out again.

Hermione wanted to feel her friend's baby kick again and she started to feel jealousy come over her. Later that year she would be turning twenty-seven and everyone around her was getting married and having babies. Sometimes she wondered if she would ever get that life. Every so often she tried to imagine her future with Ian, but she would get disappointed after her visions became cloudy.

After a few seconds, Hermione felt another tiny kick and then another one right after.

"Your baby sure is feisty, Lavender," she said after taking her hand away and reaching to finish off butterbeer. "Do you and Ron really not want to know the sex?"

"I want to be surprised, but Ron keeps pestering me to find out. I have my suspicions though," she said finishing off her own butterbeer in one gulp.

"What do you think it is?" Hermione asked, not really trying to be so nosy.

"Don't tell anyone, but I think the baby's going to be a boy. And if any of the Weasley men habits are an indicator, then I'm positive. Most of the time I'm just as hungry as Ronald usually is." Lavender grinned at the thought of taking care of a boy. Even before she was married, she always imagined having a baby boy first.

"Let's just hope he doesn't turn out exactly like Ron because then your hands will be full," Hermione laughed not meaning any harm.

"Yes, I'm praying."

The two girls threw a few galleons on the table to pay for their drinks and walked out the front door of the Three Broomsticks to be greeted by the wonderful spring day at Hogsmeade.

"Do you think you'll finally find a dress today?" Lavender asked.

"Hopefully. Everyone else has their dress or dress robes. Even Ian already bought his, and now I'm just hoping my dress won't clash. Plus, we only have _a week and a half_ until the gala."

"Well, maybe the ninth store will give you luck."

Farther down the road they spotted the dress shop near the front of town and they walked towards it. Well, they walked as fast as they could with Lavender still wobbling a bit.

Once they finally reached the store, Lavender sat in a plush chair as Hermione paced the isles coming out every few minutes with a new dress to show. Unfortunately, Lavender turned down all of them and Hermione listened and never argued seeing as how Lavender knew a lot about trends and fashion.

After about half an hour, Hermione gave up and sat next to Lavender close to giving up.

"Lav, there's no way I'm going to find something suitable. This is a gala for Merlin's sake and to top it off, I'm going to be presented to everyone so all eyes will most definitely be on me. I can't wear anything bright due to the fact we're trying to be classy but I don't want something that will make me look twice my size. I'm big enough as it is…"

"Hermione!" the blonde interjected, "you're beginning to babble on."

"Sorry. I'm just nervous about all of this. It's going to be one of the biggest nights of my life and I feel as though I can't rise up to the expectations."

The pressure of the whole situation was finally pressing down on her, so she let out a huge sigh and buried her face into her hands. Hermione was just starting to think that she wouldn't even show up, when the voice of someone interrupted her.

"Anything, I can help you with dears?"

She looked up to see the cutest old lady smiling down at her.

"Probably not. I've come to find out I'm a hopeless cause."

Lavender struggled to stand up, but finally made it and walked towards the helpful woman.

"Hi, I'm Lavender," she said as she shook the lady's hand.

"Hello, Lavender. You may call me Bernice."

"Thank you, Bernice. The thing is, my friend Hermione here has been preparing a gala for St. Mungo's and she has yet to find a decent dress for the occasion. Can you help us?"

Bernice nodded her head as she smiled towards Hermione.

"I have the perfect dress for you my dear. Stay here and I shall be right back."

Hermione and Lavender waited for no more than two minutes before Bernice showed back up carrying a long plastic bag.

"You will look beautiful in this, Hermione."

Bernice waved her wand and the bag began hovering in the air and with another flick it started to unzip itself. The sides of the plastic lifted up to reveal the most amazing dress Hermione had ever laid eyes on.

The platinum-colored gown was strapless with a gentle sweetheart neckline. The upper part of the dress had what Hermione believed to be rhinestones scattered all over, fading in their pattern as it reached the skirt. There was also a beautiful brooch attached in the middle of the bust, but it wasn't too extravagant, just the way she liked. The skirt went out, looking like a princess gown, and there were pick-ups all over it with rhinestones where the fabric gathered.

She stared at the dress loving every inch of it. Hermione was so speechless that Lavender had to speak up.

"The dress is gorgeous Bernice. In fact, I think it just might be perfect. Could Hermione possibly try it on?"

"Of course. I'll set it up in a private dressing room in the back. I do have more customers to attend to, but if you ladies need any help don't hesitate to ask," the older lady said before she walked off to the back of the store.

"Isn't she adorable?" Hermione finally spoke up. "I just love little old ladies."

Lavender grabbed her friend by the shoulders before saying, "Hermione, you're very strange."

"Let's just go try the dress on."

She had the dress slipped on but couldn't get the bodice tied up, so she had Lavender help her. Hermione just could not stop from admiring herself in the mirror. Narcissistic had never been a word to describe her and everyone knew she never worried over her looks. But she had to admit that she looked gorgeous in the gown.

It felt as though the dress had been specifically made for her, like every string sewn in knew her exact measurements and every piece of fabric knew how far to stretch.

She twirled around once more, loving how the skirt twirled around without being stiff, but giving the impression of royalty. Her back faced the mirror and she admired how the silky ribbon of the tie draped down her back. Every aspect of the gown was perfect.

There was no way she was backing out of this.

Her hands reached up to right underneath her breasts and the bumpy feel of the rhinestones felt rough on her skin. They had definitely been stuck on with some strong magic because the stones refused to move. Something had instantly dawned on her when Bernice walked up to them.

"You look absolutely stunning in that dress," she said, smiling widely.

"Thank you so much Bernice. I just have to ask you…" the elderly lady nodded so Hermione continued. "Are these _real_ diamonds?"

Lavender gasped as she reached out to feel them.

"Yes dear. Only the best materials were used to make this gown. In fact, this is one of a kind."

"I'm afraid to ask, but how much are you asking for it?"

"The dress is marked at two hundred and fifty galleons. I know it's quite a bit, dear, but since you look absolutely perfect in it, I will also let you pick out any pair of shoes for free." Bernice looked saddened, as though no one ever bought the dress.

"Would it be alright if I thought about it?" Hermione asked politely.

Bernice nodded in agreement and set back off towards the front of her store.

"I think you should buy it," Lavender spoke up before her friend could protest with negative thoughts.

"But it's far off from what I expected to spend and I don't…"

Lavender instantly stopped her by placing a finger over her lips.

"Hermione, I know it's expensive, but it's not like you can't afford it. You've been searching for almost two months for a dress and now that we found one and so close to the date of the gala, you have to buy it."

The brunette twirled around once again, this time noticing how the diamonds really sparkled in the light. She desperately wanted someone to see her in the magnificent dress and she had to admit it was perfect for the gala.

"I'm definitely buying it," she said with certainty.

As she paid for the dress and shoes, she finally realized exactly what she loved the most about the dress. And it shocked her when she thought about it. The color.

**XXX**

There was only one day left until the Gala. Less than forty-eight hours and Hermione had finally jerked into her freak-out mode.

She ran hysterically around her flat either writing owls to the other eight people helping her out with the gala or frantically reading her lists over and over again.

Lunch was the furthest thing from Hermione's mind at that moment. The only thing that mattered was making sure enough navy blue napkins were ordered to match the centerpiece flowers. And then of course she had to check that the florist had the correct color before charming all the mokaras for the vases. But then she had to make sure Ana had conjured up the correct vases, not too tall and not too wide.

Hermione knew that she was starting to worry too much, but she kept convincing herself that _she_ had been put in charge and if anything was off from what was expected, she would never enjoy her evening. Plus, she was completely sure someone would notice if the color of the covers for the chairs didn't match the elegant placemats.

She had just finished talking with the caterer through the floo when she plopped right down on her couch, exhausted with all of her worrying.

Her eyelids had been closed for only a mere minute when she heard the distinct sound of someone apparating into her kitchen.

Hoping that whoever it was would just leave, she left her draping arm over her eyes and tried her hardest not to move.

"It's no use Hermione. I know you're awake," Harry said from his spot where he was hovering over her.

"Ugh," she grunted slamming her fists into the cushions of her couch. "I'm just so tired, Harry. I really hope that everything goes through because if anything goes wrong, Madame Derwent will probably withdraw her offer."

The black-haired man lifted Hermione's legs up, sat on the couch, and then placed her legs back where they were so they landed onto his lap.

"Listen closely Hermione, because I'm only saying this once… Everything will be fine!"

"I hope you're right."

"Knowing you, every single little detail has probably been double checked and then others even tripled checked. Am I right?" A sly smile played on his lips and Hermione wanted nothing more than to reach over and slap him playfully.

"Of course you're right Harry. Out of everyone, you are the one who knows me best."

"And I'm damn proud of it, too!" He exclaimed, a smile growing on his features. "So are you finally done freaking out over everything?"

"For today, yes," she sighed as she rubbed her temples.

"Then can I take you out for an early dinner? I bet you didn't even eat lunch today."

"That sounds wonderful, Harry!" Hermione exclaimed right before her stomach let out a huge rumble.

**XXX**

If Hermione had thought that her panicking the day before had been bad, she definitely couldn't even begin to imagine herself now.

The day of the gala had finally arrived and Hermione practically woke up stressed out. She could barely get through breakfast without worrying about whether security would be tight enough or if Nick would be providing enough workers for the event.

She looked at her clock—reading almost ten—after putting her dishes in the sink and remembered that everyone would start setting up in an hour.

Instantly, she knew she would have to show up at the Hilton to make sure everything was being prepared the right way. The people that were working to set up for the gala were those that had volunteered and would not be attending, except for Hermione so she needed to have enough time to get ready later.

And she definitely wanted enough time.

One of the things that worried her the most was if the night would turn out a success. Almost all of the witches and wizards on her 'VIP' list had purchased tickets to the event, and then almost another one hundred guests had bought tickets as well. Therefore, almost three hundred people would be in attendance that night, including the workers from St. Mungo's that were going.

Hermione knew that the event would be splashed all over newspapers the next day since there had already been reports of the gala already. Practically everybody in England knew what St. Mungo's was doing.

And that fact laid heavily on her conscience.

Hermione took a deep breath and convinced herself for a minute that she would have more time later to panic. So she walked into her bathroom, leaving the door cracked of course, and promptly took a shower to calm herself further.

She had planned on getting ready around four that evening, to have enough time to take a bath, fix her hair and of course get her makeup on. Hermione never worried so much about her appearance, but to her it felt like the Yule Ball all over again. It was finally a day where she could work hard at looking beautiful and everyone would notice.

By the time she was done with her shower and finished getting dressed, it was already a few minutes past eleven. Feeling like it was the appropriate time to take a visit to the hotel, she apparated from her flat.

As soon as she arrived, Hermione walked to the front desk and asked the attendant if she could speak to Nick, the owner.

"Ah, Miss Granger, you've come to check on some last minute details, have you?" Nick greeted with an all-knowing smile. He had definitely gotten used to seeing the party-planners freak out.

"Well, if you've gotten to know anything about me these past months, you've probably noticed that I'm just one big worry-wart," she replied after shaking his hand.

"There's nothing to worry about Hermione. Everything is in perfect order. The florist just owled me and said she was on the way with the flower arrangements."

"Did she mention if she's put a lasting charm on them?" she asked worried that the flowers would die a few hours into the night.

"Yes, she's done everything that was arranged. Really, Hermione," Nick said, wrapping his arm around her shoulder, leading her towards the palm Court, "there is absolutely no reason to worry. Take a look around if you wish, but it's all still being set up."

"I hope you don't mind?" she asked sheepishly.

"Go ahead."

Hermione stepped farther into the room where the gala would be held and took in everything she could. Of course it wasn't as great as it would be later on that night, but Hermione knew it was a work in progress. There were men all around, lifting tables and chairs with their wands from where Hermione wanted the dance floor.

Other workers were setting the rest of the tables with the decorative cloth and all the silverware.

Hermione walked towards the bar off to her right and approached the gentleman stocking up.

"So what kinds of liquor do you have there?"

"Just as you've requested Miss Granger, we have bottles of mild firewhiskey, the different kinds of mead, plenty of champagne and wine. Did you want to try some?" he asked with a flirty smile.

"Let's leave the drinking for tonight, shall we?"

As soon as she turned around, she noticed Ana walking into the room from the entrance. The blonde girl finally noticed Hermione and instantly paced towards her.

"I knew I would find you here," she greeted, embracing her friend tightly.

"Is anything wrong, Ana?"

"Oh no, nothing more than the usually worrying that you're probably doing."

"I'm going to guess that Harry told you I was panicking yesterday, right?" she asked, putting her hands on her hips.

"Well, you were, weren't you?"

"Of course! It's all so stressful. You know how all of this has been."

"Hermione, I've already talked to Nick. He's going to make sure everything runs smoothly over here. Let's just grab a bite to eat, start getting ready, and then meet every before heading back over."

Hermione and Ana were going to meet up with Ian, Harry, Blaise, Ginny, Ron, and Lavender later on so that they could all arrive together.

After Hermione agreed to lunch, the two girls apparated away.

**XXX**

Hermione heard the faint chime coming from her clock, indicating that it was already six in the evening.

She had just stepped out of her warm bath and she went to her bedroom to continue getting ready. Earlier, she had laid out the dress on her bed and now she was admiring it, touching all of the diamonds and tracing lines of fabric.

It truly had been the perfect dress, but for some reason she was skeptical about wearing it that night to the gala. She knew that there was a certain person that would be there that she hoped she would not run into. But she knew he would spot her when Madame Derwent introduced her as the new co-owner of St. Mungo's.

Normally Hermione would have begun panicking about those details as well, but she was all worn out from worrying. She just wanted to enjoy the night celebrating with the man she was now in love with. Trying as hard as could, Hermione pushed the thoughts of Draco out of her mind and continued to dry her hair.

She was more than excited, but the eerie looks her cats were giving her would not leave her mind.

…

**Please review!**


	13. Cinderella's Pumpkin

So here it is: the long awaited chapter, the gala. Now just be warned because this is in fact my longest chapter being just over 6,000 words. There was just a lot to put in. And a huge thanks goes out to my beta, **TabiPrewett**, because she helped me out immensely on this chapter, trying to get some spots perfect and for it all to make sense.

Also, there's a spot about halfway through the story where you'll see periods like this … It just means that the focus is switching back and forth, but remember it's the same event. Just thought I'd point that out.

PS. I'm going back to Brazil in about a week and a half to stay for three months, so if no updates appear, please be patient. But I promise I will write as much as I can.

**Read on!**

'_So when this is over, don't blow your composure baby. I can't forgive you'_

**Chapter Thirteen  
Cinderella's Pumpkin**

_Meow, c_ame the quiet purr from Ivory, the cat sitting on the tile of the bathroom, her head held up high.

Hermione was facing towards her mirror, giving a once last glance over her appearance. Her long hair had been set into soft waves and put into place with a holding charm to make sure they wouldn't flatten out during the event.

Ivory and Crookshanks had been agreeing when she had asked if her makeup looked alright. She had thought at first that she had gone overboard on the eyeliner, with think lines on her lids and shaded underneath her eyes. But she did admit it brought out the honey color of her eyes more.

She also had a really light blue color on for eye shadow and the perfect splash of light pink on her lips.

It was enough to enhance her features and make her stand out more than she would admit.

Ginny had insisted on Hermione buying the glass slippers they say in a catalog, saying she would be just like Cinderella. So she had agreed and secretly put a cushioning charm on them so it would feel comfortable.

She also didn't go overboard on jewelry wearing just a simple necklace with a small heart pendant and small diamond earrings.

Overall, Hermione looked lovely.

She just couldn't help but pick at all the little details while she waited for Ian to pick her up. They were both going to meet everyone else at Harry's house so they could all take one carriage together to the Gala.

Hermione had set up a deal with a carriage company to give about fifteen minute rides to all the attendees of the gala from The Ministry of Magic to the Waldorf Hilton.

She was just starting to think about how romantic the ride would be when she heard a knock on the door. Even though they were really comfortable with each other, Ian always insisted on knocking and never apparating into her flat.

The door opened to reveal a shocked Ian standing in front of her.

"I'm jealous," he said barely above a whisper.

"Would _you_ rather wear the dress," Hermione replied jokingly.

"Of course not, it's just that every pair of eyes are going to be on you all night and I don't think I can handle that."

"Trust me," she said before taking his hand in hers, "I'm all yours."

Before they knew it, they were standing in the entry to Harry's house.

Hermione heard a few voices off to their left and not before long she led Ian into the living room to see everyone else waiting on them. Before they announced their arrival, all eyes _were_ on Hermione.

"I knew it," she heard Lavender yell, walking as fast as she could towards Hermione. "You look absolutely beautiful.

"You do, Hermione, you are the perfect impression of a goddess tonight," Ginny said, standing next to Blaise.

"Now if only I could get you all to compliment me like this every day, it would make everything better." Hermione felt so awkward having everyone stare at her, but she did her best to put her nervousness at bay.

"Since we are all here," Harry began, "maybe we should head on over to the Ministry." Right as soon as he finished his statement, Harry's grandfather clock chimed eight times.

Hermione heard Ron say, "at least we'll be fashionably late," right before Ginny stepped through the green flame in the fireplace.

When they had all flooed into the Atrium, the group was greeted by an elderly man.

"We have saved the larger coach for you, just like you have requested," he said bowing to Hermione.

"Thank you," she said before the gentleman led them to where there was a line of carriages right in the middle of the Ministry, something that would definitely not go unnoticed.

He took a hold of the golden handle and opened the door to the carriage for them to enter. Ian held Hermione's hand so she could go in first. Before he let go of her hand, he placed a gentle kiss where his thumb had let go, and the feeling of his lips lingered on her skin.

Once they were all in, the carriage gave a tiny jerk indicating they were on their way. Hermione decided it was a good thing that the windows in the coaches were covered with curtains until they departed, because she was certain they would be driven straight_ through_ a wall.

"Everyone has their tickets, right?" Hermione asked, unable to resist worrying about something else.

"Oh my goodness!" Harry suddenly exclaimed. "I think I lost mine going through the Floo!"

"Very funny, Harry," Hermione retorted. She heard him start chuckling and then grunt after Ana gently hit him on the arm.

To everyone it felt as though the fifteen minutes were dragging into an hour, especially for Hermione. They were all anxious to get to the hotel to start dancing and drinking, but mostly to have a great night with their friends. But to Hermione, she had a sinking feeling of wanting the night to just end.

It wasn't because she didn't want to have fun, but she had a feeling that something would go wrong. Mainly, it was just an internal feeling but the sly look on Ian's face had something to do with it.

She was going to ask him what was up, but the stagecoach finally came to halt.

The door to the carriage opened to reveal a magnificent sight. There was the circle drive and behind them other carriages were pulling up. Old fashioned iron-cast streetlights lined up along the street with a dim glow and the hotel in front of them looked unearthly. Hermione thought she was stuck in a fairy tale.

When she didn't move forward, Ian came up behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist, gently putting his head in the crook of her neck.

"This is your castle, princess, and this is your night." He laid a couple of kissed behind her ear while smiling. "You'll do wonderful."

Suddenly, it just snapped. She couldn't ignore it because it was just an intense feeling. Everything at that moment was just perfect and it was because she was with someone she loved and he knew exactly what to say and just how to hold her. With the beautiful lights and the wonderful feel of London surrounding them, everything just seemed to fall into place.

Hermione smiled in return, took Ian's hand in hers, and walked with her friends to the entrance of the hotel. The main doors were being held open by two gentlemen, and by the way they were dressed it just intensified the feeling of the evening.

The feelings of nervousness had seemed to vanish from within her stomach and now Hermione was ready to take on the night.

All eight of them stepped towards the left, instantly passing the entrance line into the Palm Court. Hermione heard them all gasp when they took sight of the room. Everyone, including Blaise who was used to it, suddenly felt an intense exquisiteness and they were all surprised.

The tables were all elegantly decorated and at that moment, Hermione barely cared if the chairs matched the napkins or not.

"Wow, this is amazing," she heard someone mention behind them, walking in.

"My lady, would you care to dance?" Harry asked to Ana before they disappeared to the dance floor.

There was a song playing and the guests were all dancing a sort of waltz, and pretty soon Ian was left with Hermione at their table. He hadn't asked her to dance yet, she assumed something was on his mind, but didn't bother to bug him about it.

"Would you like something to drink?" he asked, standing up from his seat.

"Champagne will be fine," she answered before he walked to the bar.

When he left, her eyes were fixated on the movement of bodies across from her, everyone was dancing in their own way and she couldn't help but want to be out there with the crowd. There was a simply beauty in the way the woman held themselves, looking as if they were in charge, but instead followed the lead of the men, instilling trust within their partners.

Even though everyone's movements went in different directions, definitely not looking like an orchestrated dance, Hermione's eyes stayed in a trance. The low lights from the lanterns on the wall gave an immense orange glow and flickered on the fabric when the couples swirled together.

When Ian returned, she was broken from her mesmerized thoughts.

"I love you, you know," he said, sitting back down next to her.

Even though she was taking a sip from her champagne, Hermione turned her head so she could look straight into Ian's deep brown eyes.

"I love you, too, Ian," she said after setting her drink down, smiling like an idiot.

"I'm pretty sure you want to dance right now," she nodded her head in agreement, "but do you mind waiting a few minutes?"

"What for, sweetie?" she asked.

"There's just one thing I need to take care of before we go on with the night. But I promise I'll be back in just a few minutes."

She couldn't help but love the way he would flash her that begging smile, so she agreed, watching his retreating back as he walked towards the main lobby.

Sitting back straight in her chair, Hermione took notice once more of the dancing couples, jealous in a way. She blinked for a split second, and when her eyelids opened once again, her head turned slightly to her right, landing on a table across the room.

For endless seconds, her heart seemed to stop beating as she looked straight into the gray eyes of the man she once loved (or still loved, her inner voice mentioned). Hermione noticed that he looked just as shocked as she felt at that moment. They had interacted at work, but of course it was minimal. But when their eyes connected then, it felt different.

But their connection was instantly broken when the music stopped and the voice of a man was heard booming. And Hermione suddenly felt lost when she couldn't find him again. And what scared her was the fact that she _did_ want to find him.

While she searched in the direction she had been looking in a second earlier, Hermione recognized the voice of Danicus Lender, the host of the gala, speaking over everyone. She ignored his words of thanks and how wonderful the night had turned out. But when he introduced Kim Derwent and the voice of her boss was heard, Hermione instantly stopped searching.

This was finally the moment that she had been dreading. But now she had nothing to worry about because the man that she was afraid of spotting had already seen her and looked straight into her eyes.

Her glass slippers started moving towards the area next to the bar where Hermione had planned on being introduced. Once she arrived to the spot she was supposed to wait at, she stood right next to Danicus.

"You look lovely tonight," he whispered into her ear, leaning close.

"Thank you Mr. Lender," she said in response.

"Congratulations, by the way," he said turning to her, noticing the smile she gave in thanks. "Will you save one dance for me?" he asked.

There was no way Hermione would decline, especially since he was one of the biggest contributors to St. Mungo's and also because he was such a sweet man.

"Of course, I will."

Hermione heard Kim begin to announce that she would be appointing a co-owner to the Hospital and that she was very proud to have found someone who was more than qualified but also felt like family to her. When Hermione heard her boss call out her name, she knew it was now time to face everything.

**XXX**

Hermione still had not received her first dance and it was already a little past ten o'clock.

The night had never even showed signs of dying down as guests were all chatting and dancing and drinking.

Ian had disappeared once again towards the lobby with a gentleman to discuss business about brooms, leaving Hermione to accept words of congratulations by herself. It had been less than an hour since the revelation of her new position and friends and acquaintances and even people she never knew were still chatting with her about it.

But thankfully the kind words were starting to die down and Hermione could finally concentrate on watching everyone enjoy the night.

She wondered, while looking out towards the dance floor, if there were loved ones who were married that were finding true love once again. And if there were people who had lost touch and finally bumped into each other and ended up talking about the past. Hermione imagined how many parents hired babysitters for the night to watch their children, then she tried to picture little bodies tucked in bed, holding onto stuffed dinosaurs. It was fascinating to her to watch others interact and imagine stories about them.

Uninterested in the latest couple she had been watching, Hermione unconsciously turned towards the area she had been looking at towards more than an hour earlier. And to her surprise her eyes connected with the same gray ones from before. And that was when she wondered as to why she had been scared she wouldn't see him again that night.

Hermione, still looking at him, noticed the small sad smile on his lips and saw him nod his head slightly towards the bar.

She didn't know what he wanted with her, so Hermione shook her head in response, even though she was a tiny bit curious.

The tiny trace of a smile seemed to disappear, but he insisted and Hermione noticed his lips slightly move as he begged, 'please'.

She responded by just staring at him for a minute and then getting out of her seat. Hermione didn't bother to look over her shoulder to see if he was walking towards the bar as well. Butterflies, or some sort of bug, began tickling her stomach as she started getting closer. Hermione spotted him standing at the bar, one elbow propped against the counter, his eyes down cast.

The only thing that changed was the direction his eyes were looking in when she approached. Hermione stood close enough to him and held her posture straight up, even though the spell on her high heels was starting to fade.

"Can I buy you a drink?" he asked timidly, not wanting to stand there looking like an idiot.

"This is an open bar, Malfoy," Hermione responded raising her eyebrows in the same way he remembered her doing, but completely embarrassing him in turn.

"Fine, can I _get_ you a drink?" Draco said that time with a hint of smugness beginning to peak.

"Yes, I would appreciate it," Hermione answered, but now she learned to not correct him. It would just take her to a place that she didn't want to go at that moment. Maybe there would be another time for that later.

Hermione accepted the glass of champagne when Draco handed it to her and noticed it had a more refined taste than the one Ian had given her earlier. She had to admit that she was a bit anxious standing there in front of the man she had loved not long ago. As a result of this, instead of looking at him, Hermione took the time to notice the tiny bubbles popping in her champagne glass.

"So, how have you been?" he asked, trying to start conversation once again.

"I've been good," she responded, still not looking up from her glass, but now not paying any mind to the bubbles. "It's been crazy with all the planning. And now that this is over with, I still have to help Ginny with the wedding."

It was strange, standing there talking to him. To Hermione, it felt as if they were forcing themselves to be friends when something within them was screaming against that idea, begging for more. And she knew Malfoy felt the same way because of the faint sad smile still on his features.

"How have you been?" Hermione asked after a few seconds.

"I would be better if I could dance with the most beautiful woman in the room," he answered truthfully, making Hermione finally look at him. "Please." He put his right hand out, offering it for to take.

"I'd be honored," she responded. And she didn't know exactly why she agreed to dance with him, but she did know that it wasn't pity.

Another thing Hermione didn't know was that Ian had walked back into the Palm Court when she had accepted Draco's hand in a dance. But of course she didn't notice that simple fact because all her thoughts at that moment were focused on the man standing right in front of her.

She realized that after all those months she had never forgotten the way his hand felt so comfortable resting on the small of her back or how wonderfully he had smelled of just the tiniest hint of cinnamon.

In fact, the second that she looked back into his eyes while they moved in a slow dance, Hermione had begun to understand how much she missed being close to him. Suddenly, everyone else that was dancing around them became one big blur and the only thing Hermione could see was Draco.

Hermione's dress moved ever so elegantly as they turned together and even though she couldn't see herself, she felt more like a princess than she had all night, even when putting on her glass heels. She also ignored the small pain beginning to form in feet.

At that moment, Hermione couldn't have been more overjoyed to have accepted Draco's offer for a dance.

She had felt no need to say anything because the music was perfect along with those intense gray eyes staring back at her. Hermione instantly knew that her own eyes had a glamorous glow as she looked right back into his eyes.

There was no way to explain it, and even though it was a rare thing for Hermione, she didn't _want_ to explain it. Just letting it happen and accepting something for once was good enough for her. It was as if her movements were coming naturally and she didn't have to think about it.

After another twirl, she felt Draco's hand slid a little farther down her back, resting so comfortably on the tiny curve of her back. Hermione felt his fingers starting to draw circles on her back and it was that exact action that made her feel safe being back in his arms, and all thoughts of Ian were completely blocked from her mind.

"Congratulations, by the way," Draco said breaking the silence.

"And you're just now telling me this?" she asked playfully, but wondering where the flirting was coming from.

"I could have just kept it to myself and just have been the complete ass I really am." The smirk Hermione had once fallen in love with started to slowly make an appearance on his mouth. Instantly, she felt a certain pang in her heart, but she had no idea why she felt it.

"The Draco Malfoy I know isn't an ass. He's just misunderstood."

"How very cliché of you Miss Granger," he said, never letting his smirk fade away.

She smiled at his usual witty ways and her heart ached even more, and Hermione realized what it finally wanted. Her smile formed into its own version of smirk, promising to keep its lips sealed on their own secret.

…

Ian stood back a good distance from the dancing couple, just observing them. He noticed how they barely talked but Hermione still looked straight into her partner's eyes. Malfoy's hand was on the small of her back, mindlessly drawing tiny circles, something that Ian knew Hermione loved, but knew that she was probably paying no mind to it.

He continued watching them twirl mercilessly across the dance floor, his eyes barely moving as he followed them. He took in the way that Hermione had a silent smile playing on her lips as if she was keeping a secret.

…

Feeling as if the night has finally reached the climax she wanted, Hermione gently laid her head on his chest to feel if his heart was beating just to reassure that Draco was real. After hearing a couple fast beats, she heard him trying to inhale silently and Hermione instantly knew that he recognized her usual scent.

Before, she had not known why she resulted in using the perfume she had always worn on a regular basis, but at that moment Hermione was ecstatic that she had sprayed it on.

…

Ian began to notice Malfoy's eyes close slightly, and he knew that Malfoy was taking in her scent, loving the perfume she had always worn.

It wasn't as if Ian was completely clueless to their past together, he had been able to get Hermione to eventually talk about it. He wasn't completely oblivious to the way her face would scrunch up when she would mention Malfoy or the way her eyes would seem as though she was trying to look into the past.

Seeing her hurt sometimes completely broke Ian apart inside because he truly did love her. There was no way that he could live with himself knowing that Hermione was hurting all the time. Sometimes he would even blame himself because he felt as though he was holding Hermione back from obtaining what she truly wanted.

When Hermione would tell him that she loved him back, he would never deny it or object to it. He knew that she loved him, but knew that there was someone else out in the world that she loved more.

He had done almost everything that he could think of to take her mind off of Malfoy, his competition, but it never seemed to work. Of course, he never tried buying her love or faking his emotions, they were all real. But he just decided to make it known to her how he really felt. And that night he would show her the truth.

…

They turned in a half circle so that she was facing the windows once again and Hermione felt Draco slightly move his head off of her shoulder and then she instantly felt his hot, alluring breath on her ear.

"I've missed you," she heard him whisper in the lowest voice he could muster.

His slender fingers gently grabbed her chin so that their eyes connected once again.

And without any warning, every single thing just fully stopped as his head lowered closer to Hermione's and before she knew it, their lips touched.

…

Ian had still been standing in the background watching the two of them.

Before he turned to walk away from the one sight that tore his heart apart, Ian saw Malfoy tear his gaze from Hermione and look straight at him with a death glare in his eyes. Ian urged himself to keep on looking instead of turning away, and what he saw was something he definitely had not expected.

Malfoy turned back towards Hermione, whispered something quickly in her ear, moving his lips slowly, and from then on everything went in slow motion to Ian. Malfoy suddenly smiled while locking his eyes onto Hermione and leaned down, and kissed her right on her waiting lips. Ian was frustrated than ever when he couldn't tear his head away.

It was after a few seconds that felt like hours of them not breaking apart, that Ian turned around and left.

…

Oh, how she had missed those untouchably soft lips, and all of her memories from the past came rushing into her mind. All the times they were lying in their hotel bed after work, just kissing and playing innocently. She missed the way his hand would run down her side and stop right on her hip and then he would say that was his favorite part of her body.

But once the good memories passed by, she started getting glimpses of the one night she regretted in her life. Then Hermione remembered how much he had hurt her in return.

"What was that for?" Hermione asked shocked once she pulled away from the kiss she had shared with Draco.

"I love you, Hermione, I still love you," Draco said trying his best to not sound like he was begging.

"You've had you're chance. I tried contacting you so many times before and even tried talking to you about what had happened, but you wouldn't listen to me."

They were both still dancing to the slow music so as to not draw any attention towards them, Hermione still oblivious of the interaction between her dancing partner and her boyfriend.

"Hermione, I needed time to cool off."

"I know, but we could have gone through it together. But now I'm in love with someone else and I'm truly happy." She didn't know why she was denying how much she loved him and how wonderful the kiss they shared was. Hermione wanted nothing more than to be back in his arms, but she couldn't do that to Ian.

She was just confused so her natural instinct was to push Draco away.

"What can he give you that I can't?" he asked, tightening his grip around her waist, pulling her closer.

When she didn't answer, he said, "exactly."

"But it's so much more than that…" she fought.

"Its fine," he said after a few minutes.

Hermione was surprised by his statement, surprised by how he sounded as if he had given up on something so important to him.

"I promise Hermione, I will wait for you as long as it takes for you to figure things out. I promise I will _never _give up on you." With that said he bowed down slightly, gave her a small kiss on her hand, and turned to walk away.

Even though the pain in her feet was truly noticeable now, she continued to walk slowly towards the table her group was sitting at. She sat down in her seat, thinking hard about the interaction that had just happened, that she completely ignored what Ginny and Ana were saying to her.

She barely even noticed that Ian had walked up to the table and sat down next to her. Hermione didn't even notice how he seemed a little upset when he started talking to Harry who sat on the other side of him. But no one else noticed anyway.

The minutes passed by slowly and it was assumed that Hermione was just staring off into space, praising herself at how well the night was going.

But it was the complete opposite. There was a battle brewing inside her mind and she was trying to organize all of her thoughts, practically visualizing little neat notes on parchment.

Hermione was stuck on what to do next. Should she continue living her life with Ian and completely forget about her interaction with Draco? Or should she confront Ian and tell him the truth about Draco and how she truly feels, trying to pick back up where they both left off? It wasn't as if she could just completely forget about them, each of them had contributed to huge parts of her life and had both helped her along her way in life. How could she do that to either of them?

She mentally shook all of the thoughts out of her mind. It was _her_ night. Her night to enjoy and that's the only thing she wanted to focus on at that moment. Without anyone noticing, she slipped her wand out and redid the cushioning charm on her glass slippers. She turned to face Ian—the man that she had actually been her date that night—gently put her hand on his arm and asked if he wouldn't mind a dance.

He smiled a great smile and agreed, finally starting their dancing streak.

Hermione promised to not make any comparisons between Draco and Ian and just continued to concentrate on that moment and how she felt right then and there.

Before she knew it, the night was coming to a close and guests were starting to leave, but not without congratulating her once more and telling her how spectacular the night went.

Not after long, the only people left were herself, Ian, Harry, Ana, and a couple of people by the bar. The two pregnant women, Ginny and Lavender, had left almost an hour ago with their husbands. Harry and Ana were still dancing slowly out on the dance floor even though the music had died out a few minutes beforehand.

Hermione was standing towards the entrance of the room chatting really quick with Nick, and Ian standing next to her, holding her arm. After a few words goodbye to the manager, Ian turned towards his girlfriend, which he had wonderful thoughts about at that moment.

"Are you ready to go soon, love?" Hermione asked truly feeling the ache in the soles of her feet and the need to lie down in a soft bed.

"As a matter of fact, I was thinking we could stay here for awhile longer," he said cryptically, reaching closer to her, wrapping his arms loosely around her waist.

"What do you mean stay here?" she asked, her brows furrowing in question.

"I've rented a room for the night. I was hoping we could have a romantic evening at the gala and then take things slow back in a suite."

"How were you able to do that? The rooms here are so expensive!" She couldn't believe he had seriously been able to book a room and wondered when he had planned it all out.

"Love, I'm a powerful man and whatever Ian wants, Ian gets," he said with a sly smile playing on his lips.

Hermione, still short on her heels, reached up to kiss him passionately. "Thank you," she said sincerely.

"I'm going to go up and make sure everything is set up and you may come on up whenever you're done down here, alright?" She nodded in agreement, not wanting to wait to lay down on that luscious bed with him. "We're up in room 708, alright?"

"I'll be up soon."

He turned to walk away and Hermione took a few steps towards the nearest table and sat down in an already pulled out chair. While she started taking her glass heels off, she promised to herself to find a better cushioning charm for the next ball.

Just as she was about to take off the second shoe, Draco came up to her and gently pulled her arm away.

"Let me," he said, bending down to the floor and began to slip the slipper off, not giving Hermione any chance to say anything.

"Thank you," she responded, taking the slippers he handed to her, setting them on top of the table, not caring who was around to witness her lack of manners at that time.

He took her hand in his once more that night, and placed a lasting kiss on her exposed skin, and said, "my pleasure, Cinderella."

Without thinking about being rude at that moment, she grabbed her shoes from the top of the table and turned away, not saying anything. She took steps as big as she could in her condition, trying to reach the elevator as fast as possible.

Once inside, she pushed the button to close the elevator doors and then pushed the button for the seventh floor. The scene that had just happened between her and Draco kept replaying in her mind and all she wanted was for it to go away. She was feeling really anxious at the moment, so the only thing she could do about it was to push the 'close door' button a thousand times over.

They had finally closed but it didn't help her situation any, so Hermione continued to take her frustration out on the button labeled '7'.

The doors opened back up in just a few seconds and she turned to her left where the arrows indicated that her room was.

She knocked harshly on the door realizing quickly that Ian had not left her with a room key. The door swiftly opened revealing Ian still in his dress robes and the hotel suite filled with candles. Hermione stepped into the room once he stepped aside and took in the appearance of everything. She understood he wanted to be romantic, but she thought that he had gone overboard just a bit.

Hermione was about to ask him a question when she turned around, but her eyes didn't land on him. She looked towards the floor and saw him kneeled right in front of her, and all thoughts from her mind instantly escaped her.

Ian took her left hand in his and began his speech.

"I know this may seem sudden, but Hermione I love you so much. These past few months have gone by quick but I feel that I've known you a whole lifetime." Hermione's jaw just seemed to drop even more. "I feel like your soul is now a part of mine and I hope that you can fully give me your heart as I wish to do with mine. Please give me the honor of being my wife?" he asked, taking out a black velvet box from his trouser's pocket and opening it.

Inside was the most extravagant thing Hermione had ever seen. It was definitely something she could never imagine being on her hand.

"Please say something," he pleaded after Hermione said nothing for about three minutes.

"Ian, I'm flattered, really I am…" she began.

"But…?"

"…but I'm just not ready to get married right now." And she was being truthful. She wanted to make sure it was something she really wanted and would never accept an engagement unless she was one-hundred percent sure.

"I thought this is what you wanted," Ian said standing up and sitting on the large sofa a few feet away. Hermione kept standing even though her feet were killing her.

"Yes, getting married is something that I want, but it's not something I will ever rush into because I want it to be right. Are you doing this just because you think it's what _I want_?" Her hands were now positioned on her hips, feeling as though someone would definitely end up being disappointed.

"Yes and no. It's something that I want as well and I truly love you and I want to do everything for you."

"I understand completely, Ian, but this is moving way too fast."

He waiting a few seconds before responding, a sad look found its way onto his face.

"If Malfoy asked you instead, would you agree?" He was no longer looking at her.

"Honestly, I don't know."

"Then why _not_ marry me, he doesn't love you!" His voice was beginning to start sounding like a yell, and Hermione didn't want it to turn into an argument.

"And how would you know how he feels?"

"Because he only kissed you tonight to make me mad!" He got up from the couch and walked towards the back of it, putting more space between himself and Hermione.

"He may have done that, but that just shows how much he actually does care about me." And at that moment Hermione knew exactly what she should do and her reasoning for it was the only logical thing she had thought about all night.

"Then fine, go and be with someone who only cares about you enough to keep letting you go!" he argued, his face beginning to turn red.

"And that's preciously the reason why I know he loves me more: he's not willing to push me into something I don't want."

She took a hold of her belongings for the last time that night and began walking away from Ian and towards the door. Before shutting it behind her, she whispered just loud enough for him to hear, "Thank you for everything."

…

**So what did you think? Leave it in a review.**

Quote at the beginning belongs to Mayday Parade, _Three Cheers for Five Years_.


	14. The After Effects

**Chapter Fourteen  
The After Effects**

She had tried not to slam the door, but Hermione couldn't help it. In a way she was aggravated at Ian for just assuming things and pushing her. It was one thing to do something she didn't like, but when someone kept pushing her, she felt that it was crossing the line.

Hermione walked down the hall slowly towards the elevator because she didn't know what to do at that point. There was no way she could return to her flat right away in fear that Ian would sooner or later show up. But where would she go?

Absentmindedly, her feet led the way, one in front of the other, but instead of leading her to the elevator, she ended up in front of the stairwell.

It had a very eerie feeling, but Hermione wasn't paying any attention.

Without realizing that she would have to descend seven floors worth of steps, Hermione held her glass shoes loosely in her hand as she started off down the stairs. Every few steps, they would clank together and sometimes tap lightly against the cold railing. Besides the slippers, Hermione held onto her small clutch by the small handle, distractedly swinging it.

She had no idea how long it had taken her, but Hermione had finally reached the main floor. Through the glass front doors she noticed the outside city lights and then started walking towards them. But before she made it to the doors, her eyes fell upon the remains of the gala on her right.

It felt weird… having just celebrated something tremendous yet wonderful in her life and having it turn out to be one of the most amazing nights in her life, then instantly having it do a 180 degree turn and have every feeling gone and replaced with… sadness. It was hard for her to explain.

Hermione had thought that everyone had left the party and gone home, but what she didn't notice were the last few stragglers as she headed straight towards the bar.

"Is everything put away?" she asked to the bartender closest to her.

"I still have some bottles leftover if what you're looking for is a drink," he said, setting down the napkins he had been carrying over from the tables. He would have summoned them, but they weren't supposed to risk it with all the glass and fragile things around.

"I'd like a shot of the strongest firewhiskey you have," Hermione replied boldly, taking a seat on a barstool. She ruffled her dress up so it wouldn't stretch as she sat there and then set her small clutch and glass slippers on the counter as if all her manners were gone.

He grabbed a shot glass and filled it to the rim with the clear liquid, instantly knowing someone was going to have an even longer night.

"Cheers," Hermione said, gently waving the glass towards the barman's way. In one quick motion, she put the cold glass to her lips and tilted her head back, instantly feeling the sharp burn in her throat. She gasped roughly and slammed the glass down on the countertop, but not hard enough to break it.

"Give me another," she demanded, without any harshness in her voice, of course.

"You're not apparating home are you?" the man asked, apparent nervousness on his features. "I wouldn't want you to end up splinched."

"Don't worry. I'm not going home anyway." She pushed the glass closer to the man, indicating that she wanted that firewhiskey and wouldn't leave until she got it.

Like the good worker that he was, he refilled the shot glass with the same liquor, being careful as to not let it overflow.

"Here's to men who think only of themselves," she cheered daringly, ignoring the slight pang in her head. Following her same actions from before, Hermione tilted her head back as she quickly swallowed the liquid.

With a quick nod towards the bartender, her shot glass was refilled once again.

"And this is to men who can't take a hint." Hermione once again downed the fiery liquid from her glass.

Before she could ask the man in front of her to refill the glass, Draco sat down on the seat right next to her.

"Don't you think you're overdoing it a bit?" he asked, a little more upset than he should have been.

"Give me one good reason as to why I should stop, _Malfoy_?" Hermione asked, pushing the shot glass towards the barman once again.

"I can give you more than one if you would like," he replied more smugly that time.

Hermione was thoroughly annoyed at that point and having him sit there and judge her just happened to make matters worse. She swallowed yet another glass of firewhiskey, making it her fourth that night.

"Why do you always happen to show up at the most inconvenient times?" she asked him without even turning around to face him.

"The way I see it, _Granger_," he began, putting emphasis on her last name as well, "this happens to be a very convenient time as you're completely smashed up and would be even more so if I don't stop you." He then turned to the bartender and told him to cut her off and yelled at how he should have known better than to continue serving her.

Hermione was in fact smashed up. She could feel the pang in her head getting worse and when she turned her head, everything seemed to move in slow motion and act delayed. Now she knew what Malfoy had meant by 'more than one' reason because she felt worse than she did more than five months ago on that beach.

And just thinking about that whole completely _fucked_ up situation made the liquid in her stomach roll around and not settle right.

"Are you okay, Hermione?" Draco asked, softly rubbing her back trying to soothe her.

She didn't quite hear him and she played with a diamond on her dress trying her hardest to ignore the feeling of nausea.

"Please, I need another glass," she responded gently.

"No, I am getting you out of here," Draco said sternly.

Ignoring his response, Hermione stood up and reached over the counter, grabbing the bottle of her desired liquor that the bartender had dumbly left. She put the bottle to her lips and titled her head back forcefully, taking large gulps. Unfortunately—for her—Draco had grabbed the bottle and ripped it out of her hands, resulting in her taking only two gulps. But that's an understatement seeing as how that equals to about seven shots of the strongest alcohol.

"Hermione!" she heard Draco scream, instantly causing a headache to appear. "Are you insane? Wait, don't answer that question."

Without waiting to hear a reply from her, Draco grabbed her clutch and slippers from the counter with his left hand and then Hermione with his right arm, pulling her up to rest on his shoulder. After throwing a scowl in the direction of the bartender, he stormed out of the hotel.

He didn't want to apparate anywhere with her, afraid that something might get splinched. It was an added bonus that he didn't live far away because he lived close to the Ministry, so it wouldn't be a long walk. The only thing he could think of at that moment was getting that woman he loved somewhere safe.

Draco was glad she wasn't putting up a fight.

**XXX**

Waking up to a bright light of sunshine in her face was definitely not how Hermione imagined waking up. Actually, as she thought about it, she had never woken up to sun in her face because her window was not at the right angle for the sun to shine in.

She opened her eyes only to recognize there was a massive pounding in her head. It hurt worse than she ever remembered and therefore began to wonder how and why it had appeared.

Feeling around on the nightstand for her alarm clock to see what time it was, she finally noticed something was wrong. First of all, her clock was not where it was supposed to be and her stuff was _always_ where they were supposed to be. Second, the surface of the stand was way too slick to be hers and felt as if there were at least four layers of lacquer on it.

Hermione swiftly sat up in the bed, only resulting in making her headache worse.

Characteristically, she started to panic when she noticed that she was dressed in an oversized button-up shirt and that the bed she was lying in was definitely not one she recognized.

Slowly, the memories of the night before rushed to her and automatically assumed she was at Draco's place. It kind of surprised her because she had never been there before. However, she was indeed very thankful that she was in bed by herself.

Trying her hardest to ignore the pounding headache, Hermione got out of the bed and walked towards the door she assumed would lead her out of the room. Instead, she found herself in a huge bathroom.

She didn't want to take in all the details at that moment, so she took one look at herself in the mirror and instantly became disgusted. Eyeliner was smudged all underneath her eyes, giving the impression she had been crying for hours before falling sleep. Her hair was still let down, but the soft waves were now gone and frizz had taken its place.

Realizing she didn't have her wand, Hermione let the sink run so she could wipe the smudges away and try to get her hair up in a knot without so much mess in it.

When she was satisfied, Hermione walked back into the room, only to open the other door she had seen.

The second the door had opened, Hermione caught a wonderful smell of breakfast lingering throughout the house. The problem was she didn't know how to make her way around the place and it only made matters worse that it seemed to be pretty big.

Hoping it would work, Hermione yelled out, "Draco!" despite her headache.

Not even two seconds later, she saw Draco walk towards her pretty quickly.

"Sorry, I put a charm on the door so that when you got out of the room it would let me know. It just took me a bit," he spit out swiftly.

When she didn't say anything, he continued, "I've made breakfast."

"It smells wonderful," Hermione replied, taking his hand in hers, wanting him to lead her downstairs to it.

"I was going to bring it up to you so you could eat in bed. Do you want to wait here a few minutes?" he asked, hoping he could treat her to something special after the night she had yesterday.

She simply nodded her head and turned back around to lie down in the comfortable bed. Her eyes were closed when he went into the room no more than five minutes later. When she opened them, she saw French toast—he remembered they were her favorite, scrambled eggs, whole wheat toast with honey, and orange juice.

"Here," Draco began, holding out a mug of what Hermione assumed to be coffee, "this should take care of the hangover." She took it from him and made a disgusted face when she tasted it. "It's not the best, but I've learned it works better than a spell."

Trying to keep in mind that Hermione was in Gryffindor, she swallowed all of the contents in the mug, never questioning what was in it.

"Merlin, that was awful," she exclaimed, reaching for a sip of orange juice to get rid of the taste. "Are you going to eat any?" Hermione asked Draco, not wanting to make him feel like she was taking advantage of him.

"I guess I can eat in bed with you," he replied smugly, summoning some food from the kitchen.

"Be honest," Hermione started after swallowing a forkful of eggs, "did you cook this or did you have your loads of house elves do it."

He looked at her jokingly and said, "me? Have house elves? Ha!" When she just looked at him sternly, he said, "I cooked all of it. No house elves here."

After Hermione thanked Draco for breakfast and he sent everything back into the kitchen, she sat there still on top of the bed, not wanting to look towards him. She was ashamed of everything that had happened the night before.

"Draco, about last night…"

"There's no need to apologize," he said, worried she would start crying all over him again. Damn, he loved the woman and all, but when she started the water works, it was hard to get her to stop.

"Yes, there is. I know I was upset, but it was no reason to get all smashed and have you carry me away like."

"What can I say; I'm your knight in shining armor."

"I'm also sorry about spilling my sob story all over you. You shouldn't have been subjected to my emotional breakdowns, especially after you offered to keep me safe here and give me your bed to sleep in."

"It's all right, Hermione." He just didn't want her to keep on going and mention the one thing he didn't want brought up. Even if she was done with Ian.

"But I'm also sorry about kissing you in my drunken state."

She finally looked at him with fear in her eyes. There was no need for fear, particularly since she was with someone who cared about her deeply, even though Hermione wouldn't admit that she knew it out loud.

"Just shut up before I kiss you again," Draco said with no venom in his voice.

Hermione blushed, but still said, "then just do it already."

And when their lips touched, he wanted to deepen it, to touch her everywhere and revel in the softness of her skin. But he couldn't, so he pulled away breathlessly.

"Before we continue anything, I have to show you something," he said, regret somehow overcoming him.

"Alright," Hermione replied even though she had to admit she was confused.

Still clad in only the button-up shirt Draco had let her borrow, Hermione followed him out of the room, hand in hand, to an office down the hall. He had not let her hand go when he opened up a drawer in the desk and pulled out a small box. Hermione was still confused when he handed it to her.

"What's this?" she asked, letting go of his hand and feeling a sudden loss of warmth.

"You're going to have to open it."

"Draco, tell me what this is right now!" she spat, not wanting to play any games.

"I won't tell you," he replied as if it didn't matter to him, "but curiosity will kill you if you don't open it."

And of course, he was right, always having known that she was as curious as a mouse.

Inside was a diamond ring and it only seemed to shock her—as was evident on her face—as Hermione pulled it out. It was a very simple ring, three diamonds with the one in the center being the slightest bit bigger than the other two, set in white gold.

"Who is this for?" she asked, apparently still confused—but anger very evident in her voice—as to why he could possibly be showing her a ring meant for an engagement. She thought it was meant to be rubbed in her face.

"How _dare_ you!" she yelled, immensely angry as to why he would play such a cruel joke on her, acting as if he didn't know what happened between her and Ian. She had spilled it all out with those seven shots of firewhiskey still fresh in her system.

"No, Hermione," he began with recognition on his face, "you don't unders—"

"Don't!" Hermione cut him off. "You know very well how hard of a time I've been having lately," she yelled even fiercer, her anger rising. "For more than five months, I've been grieving terribly over you as if I had lost my best friend," she admitted. "And to be honest I did! Then the whole affair with Todd happened and you can't even begin to _imagine_ how much worse it got for me."

"But you—" he tried, but was cut off again by Hermione. It didn't go unnoticed, though, that he stood there calmly and didn't even sigh.

"No! Let me talk!" she demanded aggressively. "When I met Ian, I finally thought that he could be my salvation, a break from all the pain I felt on a daily basis. For a while, it worked. But not after long, I felt the ache again. _Every time_, Draco… every time he said he loved me, I imagined it was you. Can you even imagine how terrible I felt?"

"And how do you think I felt, knowing you were wrapped up with him?" he asked back.

She was getting more aggravated by the second, so she closed her eyes, took in a huge breath, and relaxed her shoulders. When she spoke again, her voice was calmer.

"Every time he touched me, I longed for your hands. Whenever he said my name, Draco, I imagined you saying it instead. Just visualize for one second how awful he would've felt if he knew that every single time we had sex, I closed my eyes because I wanted to see your face instead.

"You have been my plague for almost half a year and it's a nightmare having to live with your curse. Last night, when we finally talked like there was no animosity between us, my heart felt right again. As sappy as this is and against my tendencies, I finally had a missing piece back. When you kissed me on that dance floor, I never wanted it to end, no matter who was watching."

She sighed, suddenly feeling tired of keeping her feelings tucked away inside. Hermione didn't know why she was spilling her heart out to him, but in some way it was comforting.

"To be honest, last night I didn't drink to the point of being pissed because of Ian. I drank to finally get rid of that disease in my veins and to wash away any guilt I had. Just the fact of knowing that I had used a man had eaten away at my soul. I drank, because for one of the few times in my life, I didn't know what to do.

"I had two men who admitted their love for me, but one had pushed me too far. There was no way I could instantly go running to you, that would be an even worse jab at me with guilt.

"Regret is something I had vowed I would never feel. But now it's the strongest emotion I've been carrying around with me."

Draco waited for a while, until he was positive she was done with her heartbreaking speech.

"That ring is for you…" he finally said like it was the most obvious thing on the planet. "Well, it _was_ for you."

When she didn't say anything and kept on staring at the ring, he continued.

"I know it's a sore subject… but that night on the beach when I left you, I had told you I was going to meet with a co-worker from the lab." He struggled to keep going as he acted so ruffled and was playing with his hands. "I lied, Hermione, and I hate admitting that, especially after what happened. I didn't leave you to meet someone, but I left you to pick _that _up," he said pointing at the ring.

"Why?" Hermione asked solemnly, taking a seat on a chair because she was beginning to feel faint.

"Because, Hermione, I loved you. I still love you." He paused to look at the revelation on her face. It had hurt him to say that he had never loved her all those months ago. He had never given her a chance and now he had his own regrets.

"I was going to give it you on New Year's right after midnight hit, but the ring wasn't ready yet. The man at the shop said he would leave it for me, but that it wouldn't be ready until after midnight because he would drop it off when he walked by the shop to get to the beach. I promise you, I never wanted to leave you."

He noticed how shiny Hermione's eye became, even though she was not looking directly towards him. Draco had never hated himself more than he did at that moment.

"I'm sorry Hermione, but it's still hard for me to not let my anger overtake me. Please forgive me?" he asked not sure what she would say or even if she would talk at all.

A tear finally escaped from her eye and fell slowly down her cheek, but she would not let his words get to her.

"I don't know if I can do that, Draco. You hurt me so much and you never let me explain anything. You just ended everything right at that moment without trying to work it out. How can I believe that you love me, or even had loved me, if you weren't willing to work it out?"

"Trust me, I do love you. I was just… guarded because of what happened. I was so consumed by rage that I was convinced you do it on purpose. I'm truly sorry."

Hermione had never seen Draco so genuine and sincere that her heart was literally breaking for him. How was she able to trust him again without having things go wrong? Was it safe for her to open her heart out again?

"I still want to marry you someday, Hermione, but only when we're ready for it and I'm hoping that we can start over because my life is hell without you."

And then she kissed him, not caring anymore. The past had been forgiven and forgotten and all she wanted now was the future.

**AN:** Sorry, sorry, sorry, that it has taken me forever to get this out. I've been in Brasil now for more than month, and I had surgery a week ago. Don't worry, my recovery is going excellent and everyone keeps telling me that I'm doing better than most people. But now I'm going to try and write a little everyday, 'cause I can't sit still for very long. I'm working on a few things, so hopefully they'll be out soon.

**AN2:** I'm thinking about maybe two or three chapters left of Unwritten Words. And there will be a surprise at the end! Well sort of.

**AN3:** Thank you so much to my beta, TabiPrewett, for all the help!


End file.
